Chennai: In an effort to ramp up Indian outbound tourists visiting Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotional Bureau (SLTPB), recently announced free visa on arrival to visitors from India and 47 other countries as part of its tourist promotion campaigns.
According to a press release, “To facilitate the same, the bureau has collaborated with SriLankan Airlines, The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) and inbound tour operators that has introduced attractive packages, targeting India. The package offered includes discounted airfare, accommodation, transport and more, ranging from 30 per cent to 60 per cent.”
Tamilnadu and Karnataka SriLankan Airlines manager, S P Mohan Manager said, “SriLankan Airlines has a huge presence in South India, operating 53 flights a week to four cities in Tamilnadu namely Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy and Madurai, 14 weekly flights to Bangalore and daily flights to Trivandrum and Kochi. We have experienced a market growth of 12 per cent to Sri Lanka when compared 2017/18 and 2018/19. With our daily frequencies from most cities, we have shown our commitment to Sri Lanka tourism product. We have also been witnessing significant growth in group travel in terms of MICE, Pilgrim Tours and latest segment being destination wedding.”
India has accounted for 18.2 per cent, which is 424,887 arrivals in 2018, an impeccable 10.5 per cent hike from last year. Sri Lanka witnessed 7,40,600 foreign tourists in the first quarter of 2019. The island nation was hoping to a drastic increase in the total Indian tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka .