Sri Lanka Tourism on Monday announced highly subsidised packages in India, to get back its tourists while declaring itself safe after extremists’ attacks of Easter.
Hon. John Amaratunga, Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs, said at the event: “Am happy to announce very attractive packages with great offers that may not be available otherwise. I assure, based on intelligence outputs, that all those who were directly or indirectly involved in ISIS attacks are caught and punished. We have made sure that these groups will not be active again. Prime Minister Modi was in Sri Lanka two weeks ago. We’re grateful to India government for being the first one to endorse our beautiful island nation’s safety.”
The Hotel Association of Sri Lanka (THASL), Sri Lankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Association of inbound tour operators have joined Sri Lanka Tourism in offering five irresistible tour packages that include a combination of Colombo, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Dambulla, Sigiriya and South Coast. The packages starting from INR 24,395 ($352) are offered in three categories of standard, superior and deluxe. These offers are valid for stays till end September and can be availed through the travel agents network in India.
Hon. John Amaratunga, Tourism, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs Minister of Sri Lanka
Ms Chamari Rodrigo, Consul General, Sri Lanka Consulate, Mumbai, said: “Normalcy has returned to Sri Lanka after our military, that has the previous experience of tackling one of the biggest network of extremists earlier, has quickly dismantled 95 percent of group that carried out 21 April attacks. Sri Lanka is safe and is still a paradise.”
India was the first to lift travel advisory after the ghastly event. 11 more countries have since lifted the advisory given to their citizens. 9300 Indians travelled to Sri Lanka in May.
Mr Kishu Gomes, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, said: “We’ve appointed Global Advertising Agency based in UK and which has presence in India as well, to make our destination more relevant to local markets. We’re inviting worldwide celebrities, including Sachin Tendulkar and Deepika Padukone to ‘Colombo Celebrate’, a culinary, fashion, sports and entertainment event to be held from 3 to 10 August.” International Baseball tournament and International Surfing events are scheduled for July and August respectively. UFTAA annual meeting is in Colombo this year.
Mr Dimuthu Tennakoon, Head of Worldwide Sales and Distribution (HWSD), Sri Lankan Airlines, Said: “India has been the number one source market to Sri Lanka over the past decade. The national carrier SriLankan Airlines operates 123 weekly flights from key Indian cities and we believe such offers are good to quickly popularize across the country”.
Air India will resume its Colombo flights from 15 July. Sri Lanka has identified 50 locations connected with Indian epic Ramayana and has introduced Ramayana trail. It’s also exploring to debut yoga along with its traditional ayurveda healing. Sri Lanka aims to progressively promote the destination for weddings and film shoots this year, with leisure being the primary focus.
Master Card, with over 180 million Indian card holders, has joined in promoting the new packages.
Similar packages are planned to be introduced in other Sri Lanka source markets across the world.
India has accounted for 18.2 percent, which is 424,887 arrivals in 2018, a 10.5 percent growth from previous year.
Written by Anand & Madhura Katti
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