Mega Boost for Sri Lankan Tourism in Yekaterinburg
15 July 2013
On the final day of the tourism promotion campaign shopping mall activation and workshop for travel and tour operators were conducted at the Mega Yekaterinburg and Hotel Atrium Palace respectively. The workshop conducted in collaboration with Russian Express, Tez Tours, Connaissance Travels, Moldiviana, Coral Travels, Parks and Labriant Travels, at the Atrium Hotel in the morning hours had an attendance of over one hundred tour operators and was . Offering with free wifi and a great location just 15 minutes walk from Holy Trinity Cathedral and Yekaterinburg TV Tower, Atrium Palace is a perfect luxury four star hotel in the Yekaterinburg city center. In addition the hotel is near to the Metro station, Fine Arts Museum, Yekaterinburg Circus, Opera and Ballet House and Novo Tikhvinskiy Convent which are a five minute drive away. Other points of interest include Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, Afghanistan War Memorial, Church on Blood in Honor of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land and Ural State University.
Due the promotional events undertaken by the Embassy, SLTPB and other private sector enterprises there is substantial increment of tourist arrivals from Russia and CIS countries. During the year 2012 tourist arrivals from Russia and CIS countries marked as 51746, which is an increment of almost 64 per cent to the arrivals in 2011 (2011 – 31592). The tourist arrivals in the first five months of 2013 mark an increment of 22.4 per cent than of the same period of 2012. The following illustration indicates the annual increment of tourist arrival from CIS countries.
The “Mega Tourism Caravan” which was conducted in the Russian Federation for two weeks concluded its journey on 16 July. This mega campaign under taken by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in the Russia, covering almost 4000 kilo meters and five major cities of the Russian Federation, would not have been a reality if not for the planning, guidance and supervision of the Ambassador Udayanga Weeeratunga.
