SriLankan Airlines celebrated the first anniversary of the launch of direct services to Melbourne this month with Australian visitor arrivals to Sri Lanka having grown substantially in the 12 months following the launch.
Year on year growth in the 9 months up to 30 th September 2018 was an astounding 45.16%, according to figures from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. This was far higher than the 2.8% growth rate that the tourism industry has experienced from all countries combined during this period.
A total of 78,756 Australian visitors travelled to Sri Lanka in the 9 months ending September
2018, to which can be added a further 9,811 from New Zealand, many of whom travelled via
Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria. New Zealand arrivals grew by 13.5% in the first 9
months of 2018.
These visitor numbers do not include the additional thousands of Sri Lankan
passport holders domiciled in Australia and New Zealand who also utilized the Melbourne-
Colombo service, such as Sri Lankan students in Australian and New Zealand universities.
Australia is home to one of the largest Sri Lankan communities outside Sri Lanka, of which
almost 50 percent live in and around Victoria, making Melbourne the convenient terminus for
their departures and arrivals.
Australia is now firmly established as the 6 th largest tourism generating market to Sri Lanka with
a 4.55% market share of foreign visitors, and is also the fastest growing major market. Although
it lags behind India, China, UK, Germany and France in terms of volume, its growth rate far
surpasses those of the top five countries.
Travelers journeying between the Australian continent and the Indian Ocean island nation now
enjoy the convenience of daily direct flights between Colombo and Melbourne.
Earlier, travelers had to spend many hours flying on other airlines via Singapore, Kuala Lumpur
or even as far afield as Bangkok and Hong Kong. On board SriLankan’s modern Airbus A330
aircraft, passengers enjoy SriLankan’s award winning world class service, sophisticated inflight
entertainment, delectable cuisine and other comforts such as flatbeds in Business Class.
The Airline has upgraded the Melbourne service with the introduction of state of the art A330-
300 aircraft in the second year of operations, providing even greater comforts than the A330-200
aircraft that were operating on the route during the last year.
The importance of the Melbourne service was amplified by the almost simultaneous expansion
of SriLankan’s codeshare agreement with Australia’s flag carrier and fellow oneworld airline
alliance member Qantas, providing passengers with a wide range of options for seamless
connectivity to fly to and from major cities in Australia and New Zealand – namely Adelaide,
Brisbane and Sydney in Australia, and New Zealand’s largest city Auckland.
Aussie travelers also use the direct service to Colombo for convenient onward connections to the
entire South Asian region, with SriLankan being the largest foreign carrier to both India and the
Maldives. There has also been a significant increase in the number of Sri Lankans travelling to
Australia, visiting relatives or on vacation, although statistics are not immediately available.
Aussie tourists up 45% in first year of SriLankan direct flights
31 Oct 2018
Aussie tourists up 45% in first year of SriLankan direct flights
31 Oct 2018