A group of 160 tourists from Kazakhstan arrived at the Mattala Rajapaksa Hambantota Airport (MRIA) on an Air Astana flight today. The MRIA said Air Astana, which is the flag carrier of Kazakhstan based in Almaty, operates scheduled, domestic and international services on 64 routes from its main hub, Almaty International Airport, and from its secondary hub, Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport. Air Astana flight will be a weekly flight operating every Saturday and is expected to continue till April. In addition, SCAT Airlines will also operate weekly flights every Thursday and will continue till April. Aitken Spence Travels acts as the local DMC engaged in this operation. The ‘bio bubble’ concept will give visitors a great opportunity for the international tourists to travel within the country while adhering to the safety protocols, the MRIA said. "The commencements of charter flights from Kazakhstan to Sri Lanka will help to revive the tourism industry of Sri Lanka and boost our economy. "Given the strategic and exotic locations surrounded, MRIA is becoming a hot spot among international tourists. MRIA envisions to be an exotic tourism destination in the region "Up to now, there have been more than 2500 international tourists arrived in the country ever since it was open for international tourists," it said.