The “Mega Tourism Caravan” commenced its journey in Ukraine on 2 October in the second largest city of Ukraine, Kharkov. From 1919 to 1934 Kharkov was the capitol of Ukrainian SSR until it was supplanted by Kiev. During the last three centuries, Kharkov has become not only a traditional center of Eastern Ukraine but also one of the most developed industrial cities of Ukraine. Kharkov is one of the biggest scientific, technical and commercial centers of Ukraine . Kharkov is also called as the City of Students - by the number of higher educational institutions and Universities Kharkov stands first place in the Ukraine including one of the best universities of former USSR, Kharkov State University. More than 188,000 students, from all around Ukraine and foreign students from 50 countries come to study in its institutes and universities. Kharkov is a very green city and tourists like this city because of its wonderful parks and squares. The main square in Kharkov is the biggest in Ukraine and one of the largest in Europe. Historical museum, cathedrals, churches, theaters, exhibitions and there are a lot of interesting places in Kharkov for a tourist to visit.

Today, the major events of the promotional campaign were the two workshops conducted in the morning and afternoon respectively at the Ball Room hall of the Hotel “Kharkiv Palace Hotel”. In the morning the workshop was conducted with the collaboration of reputed tour operator”Join Up”. This event was attended by approximately one hundred and twenty five representatives in the tourism industry in Russia. In the afternoon, another successful workshop was conducted at the same venue with the collaboration of renowned tour operator “News Travels”. This too was attended by more than hundred representatives.

On both occasions having very warmly welcomed all participants His Excellency Udayanga Weeratunga conducted a very informative and educative presentation on Sri Lankan Tourism. During the presentation he covered salient points such as history, climatic conditions, major tourist attractions, major cities, visa procedures and recent infrastructure developments in the spheres’ of socio – economic and tourism.

During both workshops the attendees were presented with many promotional materials and the Catalogue on Sri Lanka Tourism in Russian language containing information about Sri Lankan history, modern history, people, festivals, visa procedures, currency, Sri Lankan food, culture and heritage was a the major attraction of all materials. Further; this catalogue opens portals to cities such as; Colombo, Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa and Kandy whilst discussing about hill country, wildlife, beaches and star class hotels along with the facilities provided.