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Puranas contain many stories and legends describing the origin of this festival.
According to one, during the samudra manthan, a pot of poison emerged from the ocean. This terrified the Gods and demons as the poison was capable of destroying the entire world, and they ran to Shiva for help. To protect the world from its evil effects, Shiva drank the deathly poison but held it in his throat instead of swallowing it. This made his throat turn blue, and he was given the name Neelakantha, the blue-throated one. Shivaratri is the celebration of this event by which Shiva saved the world.According to another legend in the Shiva Purana, once the other two of the triads of Hindu Gods, Brahma and Vishnu, were fighting over who was the superior of the two. Horrified at the intensity of the battle, the other gods asked Shiva to intervene. To make them realize the futility of their fight, Shiva assumed the form of a huge column of fire in between Brahma and Vishnu. Awestruck by its magnitude, they decided to find one end each to establish supremacy over the other. Brahma assumed the form of a swan and went upwards and Vishnu as Varaha went into the earth. But light has no limit and though they searched for thousands of miles, neither could find the end. On his journey upwards, Brahma came across a Ketaki flower wafting down slowly. When asked where she had come from, the Ketaki replied that she had been placed at the top of the fiery column as an offering. Unable to find the uppermost limit, Brahma decided to end his search and take the flower as a witness.
At this, the angry Shiva revealed his true form. He punished Brahma for telling a lie, and cursed him that no one would ever pray to him. The Ketaki flower too was banned from being used as an offering for any worship, as she had testified falsely. Since it was on the 14th day in the dark half of the month of Phalguna that Shiva first manifested himself in the form of a Linga, the day is especially auspicious and is celebrated as Mahashivaratri. Worshipping Shiva on this day is believed to bestow one with happiness and prosperity.
A legend explains the all-night worship of Shiva on Shivratri. There was once a poor tribal man who was great devotee of Shiva. One day he went deep into the forest to collect firewood. However he lost his way and could not return home before nightfall. As darkness fell, he heard the growls of wild animals. Terrified, he climbed onto the nearest tree for shelter till day-break. Perched amongst the branches, he was afraid he would doze and fall off the tree. To stay awake, he decided to pluck a leaf at a time from the tree and drop it, while chanting the name of Shiva. At dawn, he realized that he had dropped a thousand leaves onto a Linga to keep himself awake, the tribal plucked one leaf at a time from the tree and dropped it below which he had not seen in the dark. The tree happened to be a wood apple or bel tree. This unwitting all-night worship pleased Shiva, by whose grace the tribal was rewarded with divine bliss. This story is also recited on Mahashivaratri by devotees on fast. After observing the all-night fast, devotees eat the Prasad offered to Shiva.
Broad Strategic Marketing Plan introduced for year 2016 The tourism industry of Sri Lanka is poised for growth to achieve sustainable development phase within the next few years, based on the strategic direction determined by the new government.Sri Lanka Tourism has formulated a broad Strategic Marketing Plan for year 2016, with the participation of private and public sector stakeholders addressing long standing needs of the industry and the future expectations of the country as a tourism destination. The new strategy was refined for its contents to maximise the benefits to the tourism industry and to position Sri Lanka as the most sought after travel destination in Asia. During year 2015 up to November , Sri Lanka Tourism recorded 18.1% growth on arrivals with 1.5 million arrivals. The total tourism revenue generated was US$ 2.2 billion. At this backdrop, the tourism promotional plan of year 2016 is formulated based on five key strategic objectives. Attracting a target number of 2.2 million visitors with 26% annual growth, increasing average daily expenditure of a tourist up to US$ 200 and average stay, contributing to generate a total tourism revenue up to US$ 2.75 billion will be the key performance measures. Uplifting Sri Lanka’s brand value up to US$ 80 million through tactical marketing campaigns focusing on main product offerings of the county will serve as the overall goal of the promotional strategy devised for 2016. The core destination promotional tools will be enhanced such as advertising and PR to implement a global advertising campaign and global PR initiative to stay ahead of the major competitors to Sri Lanka. The advertising campaign will be implemented in line with the Nation Branding Campaign initiated by the government of Sri Lanka thus by choosing leading service providers following the government procurement guidelines. Tourism promotional strategy 2016 has addressed the long standing need of appointing PR agencies for key markets especially in Europe, East Asia, Benelux and emerging markets. Sri Lanka Tourism wish to appoint PR agencies for major source markets in order to achieve country promotional objectives and aggressively promote the country enhancing tourism brand in the world. The strategic choice for country promotions has been constantly challenged by the global trend towards internet/online based destination marketing in the recent years. Most of the traditional marketing tools have been outdated with the introduction of web based booking engines, tour planning, e-marketing and other real time services available to frequent travelers online. Considering these developments, Sri Lanka Tourism has opted to implement a fully-fledged online and digital marketing campaign for year 2016. The campaign will create language specific web sites for all main markets and will promote the destination on focused online and social media platforms identified in each country. Special prominence has been given to attract travel bloggers with high reputation who will act as brand ambassadors generating credibility providing first-hand publicity for Sri Lanka based on experience gathered by visiting the country. The trade familiarization tours and media familiarization tours will continue to be a major component of year 2016 marketing plan. Overall 300 travel agents and 200 travel media will be facilitated from the countries around the world under the familiarization tours hosted by Sri Lanka Tourism. Familiarization tours will attract prominent print and electronic media to Sri Lanka to produce and generate articles on the destination and its tourism products. The traditional promotional activities such as participating for travel fairs, conducting roadshows and outdoor promotions will also be carried out in each country. However this will be focused and implemented based on the need analysis. For year 2016 SLTPB will participate at 46 travel fairs and road shows in 20 key countries in order to develop the product brand and generate sales by B2B agent interactions. While there is an uncertainty of Sri Lankan Airlines continuing to operate in Europe and several other destinations of choice, Sri Lanka Tourism hope to enter into strategic partnerships with new and existing Airlines connecting the regions capitalising on the “Open Sky” policy of the government of Sri Lanka. It is planned to develop strategic partnerships with all existing key airlines and work with new airlines like Austrian Air and Malindu Air and Air China who will have new operations to Sri Lanka. The tourism strategy has allocated budgets for working with airlines and strategic partnerships along with attracting charter flights. Positioning Sri Lanka as a venue for international and domestic events will be a key component of the 2016 marketing strategy. Sri Lanka Tourism hope to stage internationally acclaimed tourism related events in Sri Lanka during next year such as Arugam Bay Pro- Surf, Kiteathelon, Adventure Tourism events etc. In the meantime more than 25 cultural /religious events and arts and entertainment events that has direct impact for tourism development will be conducted by Sri Lanka Tourism . The activities will be strengthened by increased monetary contribution in year 2016. On the other hand , steps will be taken to improve the quality of tourism products by investing on the infrustructre developments. Tourism information centers will be strengthened for better serving the travellers . Local media Campaigns , New product developments, niche segments developmemt, working with provincial councils for domestic tourism development are part of the strategy formulated for year 2016. During the year 2016 Sri Lanka will host the largest ever French travel agent’s congress SNAV, by attracting 600 travel agents from France to the country. The congress will provide huge exposure for the destination in Europe, especially in French speaking countries. Sri Lanka Tourism hope to promote the country as a destination for MICE travel and leisure travelers by proving its capasity to host events of this capasity. Sri Lanka has also won the host country status for PATA 2017 which provide similar exposure to the destination. The bidding process will continue to attract more congresses, incentive travellers and events with the objective of making Sri Lanka the MICE hub of Asia. The government of Sri Lanka has provided special consessions to MICE travel development which is an encouraging factor to invest in this sector. The new tourism strategic marketing plan of 2016 will focus on the long term result oriented approach to develop tourism industry in Sri Lanka than serving short term goals.Supported by the strong presence of the newly appointed Tourism Advisory Committee, Hon. Prime Minsiter, Board of Directors ,Chairman, Hon.Tourism Minister & Deputy Minister and the Ministry Secretary, it is aimed at laying the foundation for a far sighted tourism development strategy based on the industry inputs garnered from decades of experience , analysing research findings and country’s competitive position while being attuned to constant challenges faced by soci-political and cultural environment in the world tourism landscape. The Budget Proposal of 2016 has introduced a comprehensive policy framework for tourism development.Under the guidence of Hon. Prime Minister several key initiatives have been proposed such as setting up an Aquaculture park in Batticaloa, promote sale of gem and jewellery, encourage MICE tourism by establishing necessary infrastructure, encourage spending by tourists, trasform and upgrade touirst attraction sites and local tourism zones, encourage theme parks and removal of tax for water sport equipments yachts etc & introduce hovercrafts and other water based sports for tourists, tax holidays for investors and removal of TDL are key areas proposed. With the view of improving operational efficiency and to facilitate investement a new organisation will be formd under the name “Agency for Development”.Tourism branding plan, training and development for tourism youth, registration of tourist hotels based on quality standards etc of the Budget Proposal 2016 , will heavily contribute to sustainable tourism development strategy for Sri Lanaka. As such Sri Lanka Tourism is confident that the new strategic direction will move the country forward making it the most sought after travel destination in Asia while all stakeholders of the industry reap its benefits. It is very clear that within the next few years to come, tourism industry will become a sustainable sector in the Sri Lankan economy being the top GDP contributor within next few years. Sri Lanka will adopt a concerted and coordinated approach linking private and public sector and all stakeholders ,to assess policies that govern future industry development and provide knowledge to guide successful and sustainable Travel & Tourism strategy for the country.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that five airlines have recently successfully completed stages of the IATA Environmental Assessment (IEnvA) programme.IEnvA is an innovative, voluntary, two-stage evaluation process designed to drive airline environmental performance improvements through independent assessment. Finnair and South African Airways have completed the IEnvA Stage 2 assessment, the highest level of IEnvA achievement. This ensures that an airline has implemented all of the IEnvA Programme Standards, identified and mitigated its significant environmental impacts and has set performance targets. Stage 2 also certifies that an airline has developed processes for monitoring and reviewing its performance against its environmental targets and objectives. Icelandair, Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines have completed IEnvA Stage
1, which ensures an airline has established a foundation and framework for its environmental management system. Stage 1 also certifies an airline has identified and complied with its environmental legal requirements. These five airlines join a growing number of carriers that have already successfully completed IEnvA Stage 1 Assessments, namely Air Transat, Kenya Airways, LATAM, LATAM Cargo and Malaysia Airlines. “In addition to safety, environmental responsibility is the highest priority for the industry. The new IATA Environmental Assessment sits alongside our industry-wide carbon-reduction targets as a programme for ensuring airlines not only meet but also exceed their day-to-day operational environmental obligations and performance. Our congratulations to Icelandair, Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines for completing Stage 1 and I would particularly like to commend Finnair and South African Airways for being the first to complete the Stage 2 assessment.
These airlines are among the pioneers in this critical new programme. IATA’s audits and assessment schemes are impartial, independent evaluations designed to improve industry performance against global benchmarks. The IATA Operational Safety Audit has done much to help improve airline safety and we expect that the IEnvA will do the same for environmental standards,” said IATA DirectorGeneral and CEO Tony Tyler. The IEnvA programme uses environmental standards and recommended practices developed specifically for the aviation sector by a joint team of environmental experts from within and outside the industry. These are based on recognized environmental management system principles, such as ISO 14001. Assessments are conducted by accredited independent organisations with competencies in aviation and environmental auditing. IEnvA has been developed in conjunction with airlines so that it addresses industry needs and specific concerns.
IEnvA assesses environmental performance against sustainability standards across a broad range of disciplines, including (but not limited to) the management of air quality and emissions, noise, fuel consumption and operational efficiency, recycling, energy efficiency, sustainable procurement and biofuel utilization. As a result, IEnvA helps airlines to simplify regulatory compliance, demonstrate good governance and achieve financial savings from the better use of resources. The programme adopts a modular approach, initially focusing on flight operations and corporate activities at a global level with later expansion into other activities including catering, ground operations and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO). The IEnvA Programme is complementary to the aviation industry’s four-pillar strategy for addressing climate change impacts. In 2009 the industry agreed to cap emissions through carbon-neutral growth from 2020 and cut net emissions by 50 percent (compared to 2005) by 2050, through a combination of technology and operations improvements, better use of infrastructure and the implementation of a global market-based measure.
Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar and one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, has signed a code-share agreement with Danish carrier Sun-Air, a franchise of British Airways. Effective October 8, 2015 Sun-Air and Qatar Airways are introducing code-share flights between Billund, Aalborg and Aarhus in Jutland, the Western part of Denmark, and several European destinations including Oslo, Brussels, Manchester and Munich. This new cooperation expands the options for Qatar Airways’ passengers travelling to and from Denmark, opening up an enhanced range of travel options in addition to Copenhagen. The code-share agreement will lead to excellent new connections between Denmark and a large number of business and leisure destinations around the world including Bali, Singapore, Mumbai, Goa, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hanoi, Shanghai, Hyderabad and Dhaka. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, said: Sun-Air’s company values are closely aligned with those of Qatar Airways and we therefore see excellent opportunities with this new code-share agreement, maintaining and enhancing our competitive offer to customers. Qatar Airways is expanding rapidly across the world and the agreement with Sun-Air further strengthens our position, whilst providing our passengers with an unrivalled global network.” Sun-Air’s Commercial Director, Kristian Tvergaard, said: ”We are honoured to be able to add the Qatar Airways code on our flights and in this way offer unique connections for our customers between our three bases in Jutland - Billund, Aarhus and Aalborg - and the Qatar Airways hub in Doha. I am convinced our customers will appreciate the global network offer beyond Doha and not least the excellent inflight service offered by Qatar Airways which is very similar to Sun-Air’s.” - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/91545/qatar-airways-signs-code-share-agreement-with-sun-air#sthash.6bhl4HUj.dpuf
The Chairman Sri Lanka a Promotions Bureau Dr Rohantha Athukorala who orchestrated the partnership Dr Silva the Founder and coordinator of the Tourism Masters programme said ' the tourism business is the most competitive and dynamic industry one can work as it is to do with people's leisure and their behaviour. Hence, this keeps changing daily where people are seeking new experiences in their life. This in turn demands the industry to change accordingly. If we do not, we will loose our competitiveness. Which is where the Colombo University will help us bridge this gap. This makes the celebration of Worlds Tourism Day very purposeful he said. Universities globally are organisations that perform a key role within contemporary society by educating large proportions of the population and generating knowledge but many universities have taken action to develop a ‘third mission’ by fostering links with knowledge users and facilitating technology transfer. The latter is what we are interested in and the private sector tourism chambers- SLITO, THASL and ASMET will be the key stakeholders in the partnership said Athukorala. The key issues that were identified and shared at the World Tourism day with the university of Colombo were as follows: - Strategies for better management of traffic in wildlife parks Are the tourist arrival numbers right - case study in Sri Lanka, Building a destination brand in the digital age, Importance hygiene and sanitation when a country attracts top end visitors, Can Sigiriya the 8th wonder be better marketers. Is casinos the best way to attract the top dollar tourist, the need for the Tourism master plan for Sri Lanka, The HR issue in the hospitality industry of Sri Lanka , Why has the Tourism industry not grown like the tea and apparel industry of Sri Lanka, Do Chinese tourist increase the crime rate in a country - case study of Sri Lanka Should Sri Lanka focus on Golf Tourism? How to moderate online booking companies operating is Sri Lanka, Halal tourism will it work in Sri Lanka? A structured process of new product development for the tourism industry, What is carrying capacity in the Tourism industry? Is there a future for Charters to work in the Sri Lanka's tourism sector, The relationship between infrastructure development and tourist arrivals in a country just to name a few. All copy research topics that has been approved by the senate will be available at the Sri Lanka Tourism library so that it can be used by the private sector which I will personally monitor commented Dr Athukorala.
Sri Lanka's Tourism recorded the highest growth of 35.9% in September whilst tourism receipts reached 2.1 billion dollars as at end September 2015 which is the upturn we have seen with strong promotions done by a private-public partnership. The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau chairman Dr Athukorala opinioned that the key issue to address is the un-control sector leisure industry accounting for 49% of business whilst it's imperative that we focus on attracting the $250 tourist ensure financial sustainability.
- Some call it a must visit in one’s life time
- We must now tell this story to the world
JATA Tourism EXPO 2015 Japan, internationally recognized as one of the largest travel events in the world which presents Japan as a tourism nation to the world that not only attracts the leisure sector but also other industries will take place on the 25th of September 2015 in Tokyo. The Sri Lanka as a country which has highest number of celebrations in a country will highlight one of the most colorful and grandest Buddhist festival in the country is known as the Esela Perahera at JATA Tourism Expo 2015. The Sri Lankan contingent of 26 key industry tourism professionals who will represent the country that has recorded a flat arrival growth as at end August 2015 with 25,973 visitors. We must now focus correct the market to attract a fifty thousand by end Mid year 2016 said Chairman Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau Dr. Rohantha Athukorala. More popularly known at JATA it is considered one of the ideal forums to showcase varied destinations and for for travel professionals to exchange travel information and conduct one-to-one business meetings, while inspiring consumers said the official website of JATA 2015.
The 2015 edition is said to attract150 countries and regions and has the potential to directly interact with the 150, 000 visitors said the conference organizer which is why Sri Lanka is taking a unique positioning said Dr Athukorala. We will show case the Kandy ‘Esala Perahera’ recorded as one of the oldest parades in the world is held yearly and believed to commemorate the first teaching given by Lord Buddha after he attained enlightenment. This years edition saw 153 of elephants and tuskers that were robed, illuminated and parade the streets in discipline leaving any spectator awestruck. Elephants- one of Sri Lanka’s Big five mammals; majestic gentle who add nothing but splendor to this grand festival. The show stopper of the parade is theTusker who walks in supreme grace and great pride carrying the glorious golden casket called the ‘Karaduwa’ sheltered with a canopy which contains the Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha. The musicians, dancers and all participants of the parade are those taking over their duties fromgeneration after generation. Families are bound by their faith and dedication to participate in this event year after year despite their residence and other career obligations said The communique from the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau. We now need to tell this wonderful story to the world said Chairman Dr Athukorala. The 2015 edition attracted around 15,000 visitors with over 25 media teams covering the perahera. A live feed of the event was transmitted to over 52 countries through the Asian Sat 5 satellite. The Kandy Dalada Maligawa, the Governing body for the perahera and the temple in which the sacred tooth relic is kept, had a live stream of the event on their official website as well as youtube and all other social media said Athukorala aiming to replicate the marketing model in Japan.
