Fujian Tourism Agency kicks off promotion week to lure Lankan travellers

• Kicks off first-ever promotion campaign in Sri Lanka
• Campaign to go on for a week under themes ‘Splendid China’ and ‘Refreshing Fujian Week’
• Visiting 11-member delegation to engage with SL Tourism administration and local travel agents
• Fujian Administration of Tourism officials says SL important market due to growing trade between the two nations

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
An 11-member delegation from the Fujian Tourism Agency, China yesterday kicked off its overseas tourism promotion campaign for the first time in Colombo, in an effort to increase the flow of visitors to that country.
With China having conceptualised the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ strategy to attract more tourists from countries along the Silk Road, the Fujian Tourism Agency together with its Central Government launched two overseas promotional campaigns under the theme ‘Splendid China’ and ‘Refreshing Fujian Week’.
The campaign which will go on for a week from 19 August is noted to be an upgrade in its outbound marketing plan.
In addition to Sri Lanka, China will also launch its promotion in Djakarta and Semarang of Indonesia.
To increase the current 20, 000 local visiting China annually, the campaign will engage with representatives from the tourism administration of Sri Lanka, which will include the involvement of local celebrities and tour talents who will be invited to be ambassadors of the promotion.
At the promotional launch event that was held last evening officials of the Fujian Administration of Tourism shared the campaigns will include rich and diversified activities such as the Fujian Travel Ambassador Appointment ceremony, Fujian Tea Culture Experience along with meetings with the Sri Lankan Tourism authorities and local travel agents.
The visiting officials also shared that a charter flight contract will be signed by China Travel Service Fujian and SriLankan Airlines.
In an attempt to present the natural beauty of Fujian, the Fujian Mindi Arts Academy will hold a painting, calligraphy and photo exhibition in Colombo under the theme ‘Colourful Charming Fujian, along with the ‘Silk Road Tour’, ‘Tracer Tour’, ‘World Hertiage Tour’, ‘Tea Tour’, and ‘Local Cuisine Tour’.

Speaking to the Daily FT, along the sidelines of the promo launch event Fujian Administration of Tourism Deputy Director General Chen Yihui expressed Sri Lanka is a potential market since its economy is still in the growing stages and there is good relationship between the two nations.
Pointing out two key reasons as to why Sri Lanka is identified as important and high potential market, he said the first is that with Fujian being a well economically stable region, it can offer a number of goods and services to the nation which is a great opportunity for the Sri Lankan people.
The second is that with Sri Lanka and China building stronger trade relationships, there can be a greater flow of tourists from both the countries.
“It is because of the strong trade relationship we have and are building on that we are going forward with the signing of the charter flight contract so we can have more exchange of tourists in the future. Our focus on Sri Lanka is to attract both leisure and business travellers. We are confident we have services that will appeal to them,” he said.

 
Commending Sri Lanka for its own efforts to boost tourism, Yihui opined the nation could do better if it has more focused programs that targets specific segments instead of carrying out general campaigns. “Sri Lanka should target specific markets to boost its tourism numbers. In addition to that it should also promote the services it has to offer more aggressively. The nation is blessed with rich tourism resources. It will be best if it had tailor made programs for Chinese tourists if it plans of attracting larger numbers from our country,” shared Yihui.
For the first seven months of 2014 Sri Lanka has received a total of 67,408 tourists from China, a 150% increase from the number that arrived to the country in the same period last year. Officials expressed Sri Lanka aims to increase this figure to 10,000 by the end of the year.
Pix by Daminda Harsha Perera