“More than 70,000 Sri Lankan tourists visit Thailand every year because much publicity is being given in the Sri Lankan media, especially newspapers and magazines, to Thailand. However, when it comes to Thai newspapers, very few articles are written on Sri Lanka’s tourist destinations,” Noppon Adchariyavanich said at the Sri Lanka-Greater Mekong Subregion Business Council’s fifth annual general meeting held at the Hilton Colombo Residencies. The AGM was organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

He said Sri Lanka has many interesting tourist destinations, such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Sigriya, but Thai tourists tended to visit only the Kandy temple because they have very little knowledge about the alternatives.

“However, in the Sri Lankan media one will find many newspaper articles on Thailand being published … That is the main reason why Sri Lanka is not a popular tourist destination among Thai tourists,” he said.

Noppon said that Thailand and Sri Lanka could develop areas such as agriculture, fisheries, construction, tourism and consumer products, which have a great potential to improve trade and investment between the countries.

He also said that the Greater Mekong Subregion is an emerging market in the region, which could yield ripe economic benefits in many ways.