Yearly Archives: 2013

Mega Tourism Caravan in Nizhny Novgorod -Day 2
09 July 2013
Continuing for the second day, on the 9 July «Mega Tourism Caravan” conducted its promotional activities in Nizhny Novgorod. The major event of the day was “Shopping Mall Activation” at the Mega Nizhniy Novgorod. MEGA is one the most frequently visited shopping mall in Nizhny Novgorod. The prime location of MEGA Nizhny Novgorod, the first super-regional shopping mall in the city makes it the major player among shopping malls in the region. MEGA houses the first OBI in Nizhny Novgorod, the only Auchan and an IKEA store. ZARA, Marks and Spencer, Adidas, Ann Chris-tine, Vero Moda and New Yorker have opened for the first time in Nizhny Novogord at MEGA.
In addition to the day’s program a special promotional event was held at the Shopping Mall «Fantastika» which is the largest shopping and recreation center in Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod region.
During the shopping mall activation six sessions of dancing performance was conducted by the visiting Sri Lankan troupe covering thirty six items of traditional dancing, drum fusion; mask dancing, drum orchestra and medley of folk songs. In addition distribution of tea sachets, leaflets/souvenirs, tourism promotional videos and gift packs was also carried out. The liquid tea service arranged by the Embassy served more than one thousand visitors to the Sri Lankan stand.

In the afternoon His Excellency Udayanga Weeratunga paid a courtesy call on Mr. Birman Dmitry Petrovich, Deputy Head of the City of Nizhny Novgorod. Mr. Petrovich invited the Ambassador to conduct Sri Lankan Cultural Program, in September 2013. Also, he promised to arrange more investors from Nizhny to Sri Lanka.

1 2 ►

Related Images:

Mega Tourism Caravan in Nizhny Novgorod Day 1
8-9 July 2013
On Monday, 8 July the “Mega Tourism Caravan” arrived at the fifth largest city of the Russian Federation. Nizhny Novgorod, is, with a population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia and the Administrative center of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of two most important rivers, Volga and Oka. The name literally means Lower Newtown to distinguish it from the older Velik Novgorod.
The first event of the day, «Workshop for travel and tour operators” was held in the Yalta Hall of the Marins Hotel. The workshop which was attended by approximately one hundred participants was the first, to be held in Nizhny. At the be-ginning of the workshop H.E. Udayanga Weeratunga very warmly welcomed all participants and conducted a very informative and educative presentation on Sri Lankan Tourism. During the presentation he covered salient points such as his-tory, climatic conditions, major tourist attractions, major cities, visa procedures and recent infrastructure developments in the spheres’ of socio – economic and tourism.
The «Mega Tourism Caravan” conducted its promotional activities in Nizhny Novgorod. The major event of the day was “Shopping Mall Activation” at the Mega Nizhniy Novgorod. MEGA is one the most frequently visited shopping mall in Nizhny Novgorod. The prime location of MEGA Nizhny Novgorod, the first super-regional shopping mall in the city makes it the major player among shopping malls in the region. MEGA houses the first OBI in Nizhny Novgorod, the only Auchan and an IKEA store. ZARA, Marks and Spencer, Adidas, Ann Chris-tine, Vero Moda and New Yorker have opened for the first time in Nizhny Novogord at MEGA.

1 2 ►

Related Images:

Sri Lankan Grandeur at the “Mega Moscow”
4-7 July 2013
IMG_3042Exhibiting the Sri Lankan grandeur on Saturday and Sunday, the promotional activities were conducted at the one of the most visited place in Moscow, the “Mega Moscow”, which has a visitor turnover of 2,450,000 monthly. MEGA complex combines such large stores like IKEA, garden centre Mega Moscow, Auchan Hypermarket, DIY OBI, Media Market, Hypermarket M. Video, Hypermarket of Sport Goods Dekatlon, entertainment park Crazy Park, bowling and billiard club Kosmik, 15 cinema halls, a skating ring. MEGA has the widest choice of stores under one roof which means, they offer the best shopping opportunity for visitors at competitive prices. MEGA is a unique development project in Russia by IKEA Group; it is a conceptual family trade and entertainment centre, one of the largest in Russia and in East Europe.
In promoting the tourism industry in the country, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau takes the lead among the others with having two main objectives of: Marketing and promoting of Sri Lanka directly or indirectly as a tourist and travel destination of quality in accordance with the Tourism Development Plan in consultation with the Authority and promoting Sri Lanka as a gateway to the South Asian Regions; and making Sri Lanka known as the centre of excellence in tourism management and development in the region. The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau is the institute responsible for all marketing and promotional functions of Sri Lanka, which is also responsible for overseas marketing and promotional functions.
One of the major participants of the campaign is the State owned Gift and Souvenir Boutique “Laksala” which was established under the National Skills Act of 1982. This renowned Gift and Souvenir Boutique operates through ten branches located island wide and offer the widest variety of all Sri Lankan products at a reasonable price. Most importantly, Laksala enables the numerous industries that supply goods to it to stay both profitable and in business.
During the weekend the campaign was well received by the visitors of Mega Moscow who were introduced to Sri Lanka by the Ambassador and in shopping mall activations; Sri Lankan traditional dancing performances including a “Perehara” entertained the visitors which was a major attraction. Apart from that distribution of leaflets/souvenirs, tourism promotional videos and T shirts were carried out. And also more than five thousand Ceylon tea cups were served to all spectators.

1 2 ►

Related Images:

Caravan-3, Become a reality and a success
4 July 2013
Nestled by the banks of the Moscow River, the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel and Business Center, Moscow offers an ideal location, facilities and atmosphere for tourism promotion. Thus on Friday the 5th for the second consecutive day the Workshop for the leading tour operators was conducted at the Chaykovsky hall of the Hotel Radisson Slavyanskaya. The hotel which is adjacent to the new Europe Plaza, fountain and crystal bridge features 14 meeting rooms spread over 4,400 square meters and can accommodate a meeting for 15 or an event for 1,500.
In the morning the workshop conducted with the collaboration of another well known tour operator in Moscow, “Labirint”. The company has been founded in 1995 as a tour operator for Greece and Finland with head office in Moscow. The most prolific destinations are Greece, Finland, Scandinavian countries, Baltic countries, France, Germany, Russia, Israel, Africa with tour types been Package tours, recreational tours, escorted tours, cruises, ski packages, fishing tours, conference tours, incentive tours, business trips, tours to exhibitions. The company takes part in renowned exhibitions such as MITT, MITF, Leisure (Moscow), МАТКА (Helsinki), Philoxenia (Thessaloniki), ITB (Berlin). Also it has regional representative offices in Perm, Saratov, Cheliabinsk, Kazan, Nizhnij Novgorod, Volgograd, Ufa, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on – Don.
Once again, having very warmly welcomed all participants His Excellency Udayanga Weeratunga conducted a very informative and educative presentation on Sri Lankan Tourism. The workshop which was once again attended by more than one hundred representatives was concluded in the afternoon. During the workshops the attendees were presented with audio CD package. This package of two Audio CD’s gives an exclusive commentary on 49 important tourist locations and covers Colombo, Kelaniya, Pinnawela Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Mihintale Polonnraruwa, Euwara Eliya, Kandy, Yala nad Galle. The package which is been published in Russian language is an excellent tour guide to the tourist from Russia and CIS countries. The first edition was published in 2008 and more than 5000 copies have been distributed. All tourists flying to Sri Lanka by Srilankan Airlines has been availed with the opportunity of listening to this CD on board.
In the afternoon hours of the day the next major event of the campaign; shopping mall activation commenced at the shopping mall “Mega Belya Dacha” in Moscow. Major participants of the activation were “Laksala” “Siddalepa” and ‘Sri Lankan Airlines”. During the event the spectators were issued with tourism promotional materials, gift items and tea sachets. The liquid tea service organized by the Embassy served the gathering whilst the dancing troupe entertained them.

Related Images:

Tour Operators of the “City of Billionaires” attends a Workshops
4 July 2013
Thursday, 4 July was the second successful day of the “Mega Tourism Caravan”, in the city of billionaires. Moscow which has the largest community of billionaires in the world is the northernmost mega city on earth, the second most populous city in Europe and the 6th largest city proper in the world. Moscow with an annual tourist arrival of approximately five million Moscow is the second most popular tourist destination in Russia after Saint Petersburg. Moscow is situated on the Moskava River in the Central Federal District of European Russia. In the course of its history the city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russiaa to the Soviet Union. Moscow is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, an ancient fortress that is today the residence of the Russian President. The Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city.
Today, the major events of the promotional campaign were the two workshops conducted in the morning and afternoon respectively at the Chaykovsky hall of the Hotel “Radisson Slavyanskaya”.
In the morning the workshop was conducted with the collaboration of reputed Tour Operators Paks and Russian Express. This event was attended by approximately one hundred and fifty representatives in the tourism industry in Russia. In the afternoon, another successful workshop was conducted at the same venue with the collaboration of renowned tour operators’ Spectrum, Maldiviana and Connaissance. This too was attended by more than hundred representatives.
On both occasions having very warmly welcomed all participants His Excellency Udayanga Weeratunga conducted a very informative and educative presentation on Sri Lankan Tourism. During the presentation he covered salient points such as history, climatic conditions, major tourist attractions, major cities, visa procedures and recent infrastructure developments in the spheres’ of socio – economic and tourism.
During both workshops the attendees were presented with many promotional materials and the Catalogue on Sri Lanka Tourism in Russian language containing information about Sri Lankan history, modern history, people, festivals, visa procedures, currency, Sri Lankan food, culture and heritage was a the major attraction of all materials. Further; this catalogue opens portals to cities such as; Colombo, Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa and Kandy whilst discussing about hill country, wildlife, beaches and star class hotels along with the facilities provided.
The tantalizing dancing performance of the Dancing Troupe directed by Chandana Wickramasinghe did entertained the participants and received a hearty applaud from the gathering.

Related Images:

Sri Lankan Night at the “Third Rome”
3 July 2013
The two week long “Mega Tourism Caravan” commenced its first phase on 3 July in the capital city of Russia, Moscow. This promotional campaign which will be conducted in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Ufa and Yekaterinburg covering a distance of almost 4000 kilo meters on wheels is the follow up of the “Mega Tourism Road Show” held in March – April 2013, in the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Republic of Kazakhstan. This enormous task of organizing weeks long tourism campaigns firstly in four major cities of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan and subsequently in four major cities in Russia for the second time would not have been a reality, if not for the resolute and untiring efforts of His Excellency Udayanga Weeratunga, the Ambassador of Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation. His vast experience and hard earned knowledge on the tourism industry were the main attributes, which paved the way to successfully organize both “Mega Tourism Road Show” and “Mega Tourism Caravan”.
This time the campaign commenced its proceedings with a cultural show, namely the “Sri Lanka Night” at the Hotel Lotte Plaza, Moscow. The event attended by the diplomatic corps, leading travel and tour operators in Moscow, leading businessmen in both tourism and tea trade, leading print and electronic media persons and Sri Lankan Diaspora was well received and appreciated by all present at the ceremonial opening.
Addressing the august gathering the Ambassador stressed upon the need to promote tourism of Sri Lanka in Russia and CIS countries as the fifth largest tourist arrivals are from the said countries. Further, he spoke about the diplomatic and cultural relations between the two nations, traditional dancing of Sri Lanka and development of infrastructure in the country.
The cultural show of three hours performed by the Dance Guild of the maestro Chandana Wickramasinghe, enthralled and pleased the audience with many a traditional dancing, drum fusion, mask dancing, drum orchestra and medley of folk songs. The photo exhibition of 120 photos covered the visits of His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Republic of Kazakhstan. It also covers major tourist destinations of the country namely; Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambulla, Kandy, Sigiriya, Pinnawela and Nuwara Eliya along with scenic and pristine beaches along both Western and Eastern coasts, Sri Lankan cuisine, traditional dancing and wild life.
The event was held at the Crystal Ballroom of the Hotel Lotte Plaza, Moscow which is a One of Moscow’s newest hotels. The Lotte is an Asian export in the heart of the Russian capital’s shopping and financial districts, close to the Kremlin and new business district. The “Three Michelin” star chef, Pierre Gagnaire, along with a team trained exclusively in Paris, presided over the reception which followed the cultural show.

1 2 3 ►

Related Images: