Sri lankan culture and traditions enthrall People of samara city
6-7 June 2014
Continuing in its 7 city journey, MEGA Tourism Caravan 6, on the 7th day reached Samara City travelling a distance of 420 km from its previous stopover, the Kazan city in Russia. Crossing the 1000 km mark in its journey, the Caravan on reaching Samara city completed 1170 km of travel overland since beginning 7 days ago.
Why select Samara city to showcase the beauty and the traditions of Sri Lanka in the MEGA Tourism Caravan 6 programme; Key among the many reasons are the city’s beauty and the friendly and hospitable people. Samara known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev, is the sixth largest city in Russia and the administrative center of Samara Oblast (Oblast is the word used to identify an administrative division). It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers on the east bank of the Volga. The Volga acts as the city’s western boundary; across the river are the Zhiguli Mountains adding lot of beauty to the surrounding. The northern boundary is formed by the Sokolyi Hills and by the steppes in the south and east. Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial, and cultural center of European Russia, which in May 2007 hosted the European Union—Russia Summit. Samara has a continental climate characterized by hot summers and cold winters. Samara’s river-front is one of the favorite recreation places for local citizens and tourists. After the famous Russian novelist Vasily Aksyonov visited Samara, he remarked referring to the Samara’s river front : “I am not sure where in the West one can find such a long and beautiful embankment. Possibly only around Lake Geneva. Coupled with this serene beauty and the friendly and hospitable people the Samara City probably can be considered one of the best locations for tourist promotions. Thus stopover by the Caravan.
Tourist promotion activities for the day began with a Photo exhibition and a workshop for tour operators and their agents at the “Mir” conference hall in the “Renaissance Samara” hotel. The photo exhibition which opened the day’s proceedings added a lot of colour to the event with over 120 photos displayed on visits of His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Republic of Kazakhstan. The photos on display also included photos of major tourist destinations in Sri Lanka such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambulla, Kandy, Sigiriya, Pinnawela and Nuwara Eliya along with scenic and pristine beaches on both Western and Eastern coasts, Hotels, Sri Lankan cuisine, traditional dancing and wild life. The workshop which followed the photo exhibition was organized in collaboration with the reputed Tour Operators Russian Express and INTAER, drawing over one hundred and fifty representatives from the tourism industry in Russia. His Excellency Udayanga Weeratunga after welcoming the tour agents personally conducted a very informative and an educative presentation on Sri Lankan Tourism. Drawing from a wealth of knowledge he posses on the Sri Lankan Tourist Industry and speaking in fluent Russian, the ambassador elaborately covered important aspects such as history, climatic conditions, major tourist attractions, major cities, visa procedures and recent infrastructure development during the presentation.
At the conclusion of the presentation all the attendees were presented with many promotional materials and a 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. This comprehensive catalogue is sure to provide valuable information to its readers on cities such as; Colombo, Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa, Kandy and the other townships in the hill country along with other relevant details on wildlife, beaches and star class hotels with the facilities provided.
The tantalizing dancing performances of the Dancing Troupe directed by Chandana Wickramasinghe entertained the participants and received a well deserved appreciation for their flawless performances.
After the workshop for the tour operators and agents, the ‘Shopping Mall Activation’ at the MEGA Samara Mall commenced. Complete array of cultural items presented during the “Shopping Mall Activation” attracted a large number of people and all were afforded an opportunity to taste liquid Ceylon Tea.
