Sri Lanka and Morocco to Open Tourist Offices in Russia

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau plans to open an official representative office in Moscow this autumn, Igor Karpov, Director of the Temporary Representation of the Bureau in Moscow, in operation since 10 April, told Interfax-Tourism. ‘It is the first step towards the opening of Sri Lanka Tourism Board’s official representative office in Russia and the CIS countries. Sri Lanka Tourism Board is a state body responsible for tourism promotion in Sri Lanka. The candidates for running the office will be chosen in the process of a contest which will take place before autumn’, said Mr Karpov.


According to Mr Karpov, in spite of the small budget allocated for Russia, the Sir Lankan authorities plan to organise a PR campaign to promote the tourist potential of the country in Russia in the near future. There are also plans to create the Russian language version of Sri Lanka Tourism Board’s official website and to organise fam trips for the Russian media.

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The government of Morocco would like to achieve a considerable increase in the number of visitors from Russia. 13,000 Russian tourists visited Morocco last year, but this is not enough, according to Mohamed Bussaid, Tourism and Crafts Minister. He believes in the high potential of the tourism industry of the country. In order to increase the number of Russian tourists there are plans to introduce several new direct scheduled flights, and also to open a Moroccan tourist office in Moscow. An active advertising campaign is also planned.

According to RIA Novosti, Mr Bussaid confirmed that the number of visitors in 2007 was 7.4 million tourists, i.e. a 12% increase compared to 2006. ‘We are aiming to increase the number of foreign visitor to 10 million by 2010’, he said. The country’s hotels are being improved, and the construction of nine seaside tourist centres is planned.