July 2013 – Page 2 – උදයාංග වීරතුංග

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.

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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.