Sri Lanka “the wonder of
Asia” has been listed among the five new emerging travel destinations by the
World Travel Market's industry report 2012.
Three key factors that
favoured Sri Lanka are the re-emergence of the country after the civil war,
infrastructure investments and beautiful locations.
At the end of the annual World Travel Mart (WTM),
usually held in November each year in London, and considered as one of the most
important events in the world tourism calendar, an industry report is published
which highlights world travel trends and insights, with emphasis on the UK
market .
This report is an important and prestigious
publication which is referred to by many professionals in the industry world
over in making their strategic plans for the forthcoming year.
Sri Lanka's tourism sector
has been booming since the end of a three-decade war with the Tamil Tigers in
2009.
The government has targeted
one million tourist arrivals for 2012 and revenue of $1 billion from foreign
direct investment.
By 2016, it hopes to reach
2.5 million arrivals despite industry experts warning of massive infrastructure
upgrades to meet this target.
The World Travel Market
(WTM) is a British event aimed at the global travel industry. Thousands of
travel industry professionals, government ministers and representatives of the
international media, converge on ExCeL London each year in November to attend
WTM.
Source: IANS & eTN
