From left: Ushendrini Amerasinghe, Asst. Secretary General – Associations of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Mahen Kariyawasan, Immediate Past President of SLAITO, Harith Perera, Vice President of SLAITO, Devindre Senaratne, President of SLAITO, Nalin Jayasundara, Secretary of SLAITO, Gayangi Wirasinha, Treasurer of SLAITO and Wing Commander Kumuda Eramudugolla, Chief Operating Officer of SLAITO
Devindre Senaratne, Managing Director of JourneyScapes Private Limited was elected the President of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) at the 35th Annual General Meeting of the Association held recently.
In the meantime, Harith Perera, Managing Director of Diethelm Travel Sri Lanka was elected as the Vice President, Nalin Jayasundera, Managing Director of Aitken Spence Travels Ltd was elected as the Secretary and Gayangi Wirasinha, Managing Director of Abercrombie & Kent (Pvt) Ltd was elected as the Treasurer.
In the meantime, the following persons were elected to the Executive Committee of SLAITO for the period of 2015 / 2016 and they are T. M. F. Packeer, Managing Director of Asian Exotica (Pvt) Ltd, Bilal Mohamed, Chairman of Asian Adventures Travel Management Co. (Pvt) Ltd, Shanitha Fernando, President of Authenticities (Pvt) Ltd, Chandra Wickremasinghe, Chairman of Connaissance de Ceylan, Bobby Jordan Hansen, Managing Director of Columbus Tours (Pvt) Ltd, Nushani Ediriweera, Director Sales & Marketing of Ceylon Tours Ltd, Shiromal Cooray, Managing Director of Jetwing Travels Ltd, Aasim Mukthar, Chief Executive Officer of Lanka Exhibition & Conference Services (Pvt) Ltd, Mr. Dirk Grigson, Managing Director of Lanka Sports Reizen, Nilmin Nanayakkara, Managing Director of Nkar Travels &Tours (Pvt) Ltd, Vasantha Leelananda, Executive Vice President - JKH & Head of Leisure Inbound Sector of Walkers Tours Ltd, Nishad Wijetunga, Director/CEO of Wayfarers Ltd and Mahen Kariyawasan, Managing Director of Andrew the Travel Company (Pvt) Ltd as the Immediate Past President. The Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) was formally known as Association of Group Tour Agents (AGTA) and was established in 1975. In 2002 AGTA was reconstituted as SLAITO.
SLAITO is recognized as the APEX body for inbound tourism and the membership handles 90 percent of all inbound tourists in the organized tourism sector in the country.
SLAITO plays an integral role in all important private sector decision-making forums and is affiliated to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. At present the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators have a membership of 200.