Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau together with nine industry members were at the largest tourism fair Vakantiebeurs 2016 in The Netherlands promoting the island among Dutch tourism trade and travellers. 

The Vakantiebeurs fair is the largest travel and tourism fair held yearly in Utrecht, The Netherlands, attracting travel and tourism exhibitors from all over the world. 

The travel fair took  place from  12th – 17th January 2016 with the first day being dedicated as a trade day for tourism and travel related professionals.
The Netherlands is becoming a growing source market for Sri Lanka where a cumulative growth of 35.3 percent was seen with arrival numbers of over 32,742 for 2015. The Dutch market consists of high spenders whom the Promotion Bureau and the industry members are targeting.

The opening ceremony of the Sri Lanka stand was held on the first day of the fair graced by the Ambassador for Sri Lanka in the Netherlands A. M. J. Sadiq and Mayor of Utrecht J. H. C. Van Zanen.

Sri Lanka has been participating at Vakantiebeurs for over a decade and this year, Sri Lankan presence was themed under ‘Eight Experiences – Pristine, Essence, Heritage, Wild, Thrills, Heritage, Festivals and Bliss. The Sri Lanka stand also featured a tea bar to showcase the world’s first ethically produced tea supplied by Ceylon Tea Board to all visitors to the Stand.

Apart from projecting Sri Lanka in this fair, it sets the stage for Sri Lankan industry to establish contacts with potential buyers, negotiate transactions and reinforce business relationships with existing buyers for Sri Lanka. As this is also a public fair the Sri Lankan team is also able to project diversity of attractions in our country to large number visitors who are future and potential travellers to Sri Lanka.