Sri Lanka woos Chinese tourists via renren.com

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka has opened a page on Chinese social networking site - www.renren.com - to attract more Chinese tourists to the country, an official said Monday.

In an ambitious plan to accelerate tourism in the country after the rout of the Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau has launched a drive to woo more Chinese tourists.

For the first time ever, Sri Lanka welcomed 750,000 tourists so far this year, achieving its target for 2011 much ahead of December 31, reported Xinhua.

"As the booming economy of China has led to a creation of a rich middle class and extensive per capita spending, targeting the Chinese travel market would be an ideal opportunity for Sri Lanka," said Rumy Jauffer, managing director of the bureau.

He said opening a public page on www.renren.com was a key aspect in promoting a destination via social media and creating awareness.

"We have implemented a number of programmes targeting the broad tourist base in China with the support of Chinese tour agencies," Jauffer said.

According to the latest data, tourists from China grew by 71 per cent to 13,889 in the first 10 months of 2011.