JEDDAH — Sri Lanka Ambassador Krishna Moorti promoted his country as an ideal destination for tourism and investment at the first Sri Lanka Tourism Roadshow held in Jeddah at the Movenpick Hotel on Saturday. Two other roadshows were also held in Riyadh and Dammam successively. As the keynote speaker here, Krishna Moorti highlighted the things that make Sri Lanka an attractive destination for tourism. According to him country's product ranges from beaches, a rich heritage, healing powers of Ayurveda medicine, the thrills of sports and adventures, the spirit of festivals, the diversity of culture, scenic beauty and the love of nature and wildlife are major attractions. In addition the world's finest “Ceylon Tea” varieties are available, including Sri Lankan spices — cinnamon, cardamom, cloves — and vanilla while, fantastic bargains can be had on clothes and shoes as apparel are manufactured for export and traditional handicrafts of brass, wood, leather, cane and pottery which rarely exists in any other place. The Embassy of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotional Bureau and Srilankan Airlines jointly organized the “Sri Lanka Tourism Road Show 2013” and Business Symposiums in three major cities of Kingdom. Around 16 companies from Sri Lanka and nearly 35 guest companies attended the mega tourism show, which provided knowledge about the most attractive and diverse island. According to statistics the total arrival of Saudi tourists to Sri Lanka was 19,500 last year. This was an increase in tourist's arrival from Saudi Arabia over previous years. “Our short-term objective is to increase this number to at least 45,000 to 50,000 within next two to three years,” Krishna Moorti said. In this regard this Roadshow is first of its plan to build awareness of Sri Lanka as a leisure, sports, adventure, eco-tourism and business travel destination, Krishna Moorti said, adding, the Embassy would like to meet Sri Lanka's government goal of 2.5 million tourist by 2016. Speaking to Saudi Gazette Krishna Moorti said, ”Sri Lanka is one of the favorable destination, now that we have peaceful environment and tourism is one of the important industry in our country. We have excellent relations with Saudi Arabia and we wanted to ensure it would translate to tourism as well as to other ties. “This is one of our promotional drive to have these roadshows, and we will continue to promote. In today's world we should come to the doorstep to sell, so we are coming with 16 companies from Sri Lanka,” he added. Consul General of Sri Lanka Dr. Adambawa Uthumalebbe, too spoke to Saudi Gazette and said, “This roadshow means it shows the road of tourism, this is very useful way to promote our tourism.” “Nowadays Saudi tourists are increasingly traveling to Sri Lanka, called the pearl of the Indian Ocean, and if a person goes there once he wishes to go again. Sri Lanka is a cheap and affordable place, and it has the infrastructure to make it a very enjoyable vacation place and a mega hub of tourism,” added Dr. Adambawa.
