Tourism Minister Millinda Moragoda's move to appoint Arjuna and Aravinda as Tourism Ambassadors for Sri Lanka brought in immediate results following their successful mission to India to represent Sri Lanka at last week's Ramayana launch in New Delhi and Economic Summit in Gurgaon.

Apart from their formal representations, the much respected duo in the Indian soil, created an unprecedented emotional dimension into the programs with Indians still having in their memory the performances of the cricket heroes particularly in the nineties including the world cup in 1996.

The Ramayana launch took place at the Metropolitan hotel in Delhi on the 17th Afternoon. The official presentations were substantiated by the Sri Lankan Hindu priests specially flown for the occasion. The event saw a media outburst followed by touching speeches of the Tourism Ambassadors stressing the binding between the two countries not only in historic sense but also in the present day in politics, economic and sports. The Indian media refused to let these much loved two cricketers leave the hall after the press briefing without having a personal word with them or getting them to pose for the 'flashes of thousands of photographs'.

The revelation of Ramyana sites in Sri Lanka is expected to spur thousands of Indians to visit these sites in this year particularly after industry becomes fully geared to offer packages. The Indian media has already given enough publicity through print and electronic media justifying all the hard work that has gone into to the research work of identifying the sites that Sita Amman has visited in Sri Lanka.

The press briefing became complimentary to the program in Gurgaon during the economic summit which was organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce with the participation of Sri Lanka Convention Bureau, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Sri lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Board of Investment and SriLankan Airlines.

Gurgaon program began with the luncheon session on the 16th Jan which was attended by around 150 Indian corporates. The Speakers at this occasion were the two Ministers Dr Sarath Amunugama, Prof Peiris and Mr Mahen Dayananda (Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber) followed by a presentation on Investment potential by the BOI officials. The Sri Lankan delegation also attended the evening dinner hosted by the Chief Minister of Haryana Pradradesh.

The Bureau made arrangements with Business Standard to publish a 6 page supplement on the 16th January. The supplement covered all necessary aspects with colour pictures conveying the required messages to the target audience.

The evening program in Gurgaon on the 17th January was well attended by over 700 delegates and most of them were Indian Corporates. Sri Lanka was showcased with Investment and Tourism/MICE Tourism potential and now with the Ramayana sites adding the Sri Lankan cultural glamour to be remembered by the Indian audience for a long time.

The evening cultural program was conducted under Ramayana theme and the music and dance program was structured to depict the links between two countries. The cultural program was presented by Channa and the dance troupe with the touch of western music by Ricky Bahar and Shanelle Fernando.

The Cultural items, speeches by Dr Sarath Amunugama, Arjuna Ranatunga, presence of other dignitaries including Aravinda and screening of MICE video, Raffle draw with the clippings of Arjuna and Aravinda in their cricketing careers culminating in the world cup of 1996 etc kept the entire audience in attention to the actions on stage, most importantly the message of Sri Lanka tourism that 'Sri Lanka is value for Indians and Indian Corporates for their next holiday destination as well as Corporate meetings and Incentives' that was effectively conveyed to the audience at the function. Arjuna said in his speech' come and see and then believe in what we say'.

The program was also followed by two live Radio and TV interviews with Arjuna. The Indian media has so far given unprecedented publicity for the Ramayana trail, Sri Lanka as emerging venue for Corporate meetings and Arjuna's new assignment as Cricket Board Chief in Sri Lanka.

This promotion is expected to boost Indian visitors to Sri Lanka in this year and the industry is expected to put together packages for the Sita Amman sites in consultation with SLTDA to take full advantage of this new impetus given to Indian traffic.

As for Sri Lanka Convention Bureau, which is now a statutory body under the Ministry of Tourism, 'the opportunity has paved us the way for joint promotions with Indian Chambers through initiatives by the present Chairman of SLCB Prema Cooray and the Bureau will pursue this strategy which is one effective way to reach out to Indian Corporates to promote MICE) visits (Meetings, Incentive Travel, conferences and Exhibitions from India to Sri Lanka' said its General Manager Vipula Wanigasekera.