"Making Sri Lanka a Top Tourist Destination"  will be the theme of a seminar organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.  The Seminar which will be held at the “Cinnamon Lakeside” starting at 3.00 p.m. on August 3rd has been organized in a bid to strengthen the government’s efforts to make Tourism a major contributing factor in Sri Lanka’s development goals.

The seminar will feature key industry personalities including representatives from the Hotel Sectors, Travel Sector and Marcom, sharing their views and insights. President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing Mr. Rohan Somawansa reitering the Institute’s commitment to Sri Lanka’s growth has said that as a responsibility of SLIM, they are opening the seminar  free for industry people, and it will also be a brain storming session. This is an annual conference and this year, the Institute has selected the tourism theme as tourism is expected to be  a  key revenue generator for the country in future while building the country’s image as well.

The seminar will feature three thematic issues, ‘Pursuing the Potential for Tourism’, ‘Positioning Sri Lanka Tourism’ and ‘Nation Branding and Role of Tourism’. Key speakers for the event are Lalith  e Mel, Chairman - Hemas Group, Dr. Uditha Liyanage, Director – Postgraduate Institute of Management and Dileep Mudadeniya, Director General - Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau respectively. The panelists for the three segments will include Srilal Miththapala,Immediate Past President - Tourist Hotel Association of Sri Lanka,Siri De Silva,President – ASMET, Mr. Nilmin Nanayakara, President – SLAITO, Deepal Sooriyaarachchi, Chartered Marketer, Imal Fonseka,Managing Director - Hemas Consumer Brands, Siddhartha Roy,Director-Planning – Phoenix O&M and Mr. Dinesh B. Saparamadu,Founder/CEO – hSenid Software International.