Business tourism growing in Sri Lanka, many MICE events
View(s):“We had 13 proposals to host this conference from across the world. However the IASP board had made it clear that they wanted the host to come from a lower and middle income country. Six of the 13 bids came from lower and middle income countries. Then we were looking at a country that had done a lot of work in suicide prevention; a host city that was accessible to our very diverse delegates and Sri Lanka turned out to be an amazing central location for everybody,” said Wendy Cliff, IASP’s Head of Membership and Events, during a visit to Colombo last week.
Ms. Cliff, during her visit checked out venues in the Sri Lankan capital and held discussions with various stakeholders who would be associated with the 2027 conference, expected to attract 700 to 900 high-level participants from across the world. Prof. Thilini Rajapaksha, Local Chair of the Congress, attached to the Peradeniya Medical Faculty, was also associated with the discussions.
An IASP statement, posted on its website, said that Sri Lanka’s successful bid reflects the country’s remarkable journey in suicide prevention. Once recording the highest suicide rate globally in the mid-1990s, Sri Lanka has since achieved the most dramatic reductions in suicide rates ever documented.
She said by coming to Colombo, a significant decrease could be achieved in the registration fee for the meeting and other costs. The other reasons for deciding on Sri Lanka were the direct flights from Australia and most European cities to Colombo, Ms. Cliff, who is based in Australia, said.
Among the events being hosted by Sri Lanka in coming months are an International Conference on Industrial & Medical Gases next month, the 2nd International Conference on Tropical Dermatology also in March, a Sri Lanka – German Business Forum in March-April and the Asia Pacific Conference of Paediatrics in July. This is in addition to events in the pipeline while the actual figures of MICE tourist arrivals are much highest as incentive groups are not recorded as MICE. Last year recorded the highest percentage of MICE & Business travel exceeding 13 per cent of total arrivals.
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