Sri Lanka Tourism, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Embassy in Italy, as one of its promotional activities carried out a Media FAM Tour to a group of Italian journalists in order to promote Sri Lanka among its Italian counterparts. The Media FAM Tour was conducted from 27th November to 4th of December 2022.
This was the first promotion commenced after the pandemic with the relaxation of travel advisory from the Italian government. The Media crew consisted of 3 members, each from one TV channel and 2 magazines. Mr.Marco Buemi from L Espresso and Ms.Consuelo Gennari, Mr.Alessandrovisciano from K Around the world online magazine, and Chanele Italia. Sending a positive message about Sri Lanka to Italian Travelers across all forms of Media is a successful step since it will cater to a larger audience
and will promote Sri Lanka further.
Italy has been identified as an important market within the Eastern European Region that generates high-value tourists for Sri Lanka. The Italian visitors had an amazing experience of tasting Sri Lankan food and experiencing its heritage, scenic beauty, adventure, and southern coast, with the objective to encourage Italian travelers to continue to visit the destination. This tour initially gave the Italian Media personnel an opportunity to develop a positive message that Sri Lanka is safe and secure to all tourists, and rest assured that they will have the best holiday opportunities they could find in the store. During their tour, they had their first experience by joining a Colombo city tour and then proceeding to Habarana.. En route they went on a wildlife safari at the Minneriya National park, watching large herds of elephants, species of deer and wild boar pass by. They also visited Polonnaruwa, and its archeological sites, admiring the well-preserved architecture and Sigiriya frescoes, having an exclusive experience at the Temple of the Sacred tooth relic and also visiting the Spice gardens in Matale. Later on, they all had a city tour of Nuwaraeliya where they had a view of the Ramboda falls, tea plantations, and a tea factory.
On this Tour, several other locations were also visited such as Ella ,Nanuoya ,Nine Arches bridge and the mini Adams peak.Sri Lanka is by no means a destination that has so much in store for the interested traveler, be it cultural, natural or culinary. As the final leg of the tour, the Italians headed down to the Southern coastal line where they visited Tangalle, and were also able to experience whale watching in Mirissa . This completed their 7-day tour of the destination, having witnessed the excellent potential Sri Lanka has to offer as a travel hub, and given the necessary promotion, more Italian tourist arrivals can be brought into the destination.
Italy can be taken as a major source market for Sri Lanka with its high-spending tourists who would always want to enjoy some quality time. In 2022, there were 7449 Italian tourists who arrived in Sri Lanka , and it can be further developed as one of the main source market again with necessary tourism promotions.