Sri Lanka Tourism aims at increasing the air seat capacity for the foreign tourists that embark the island, simultaneously monitoring the traffic coming from large markets for the country with the ongoing promotional campaigns, The Daily Morning Business learnt.
Speaking to The Daily Morning Business, Chairman of The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Priantha Fernando said: “Promotional campaigns are expected to succeed for nine major countries (for Sri Lanka).”
According to the Monthly Tourist Annual Report (October 2023), the data shows that approximately 36% of tourists chose the departure airports in Dubai, Doha and Chennai as their last stop before reaching Sri Lanka.
The top airlines favoured by tourists arriving in Sri Lanka were Sri Lankan Airlines, Qatar Airways and Emirates, collectively accounting for a substantial 55% of total tourist arrivals demonstrating the fact that the tourists' choices when it comes to airlines and departure airports are heavily influenced by their home countries. For instance, Indian travellers commonly choose Sri Lankan Airlines and IndiGo while Russian tourists tend to prefer Aeroflot and Red Wings when traveling to the island.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Airlines is a popular choice among tourists from the United Kingdom (the UK), Australia, Maldives, and France. Notably, German, American, and Spanish tourists often opt for Qatar Airways and use Doha as their primary departure hub. Emirates is a favoured option by both German and British tourists.
With the return of operations from airlines such asTurkish Airlines in October and the introduction of other charter and scheduled flights in November, including Azur Air, Edelweiss, and Enter Air, the outlook for connectivity and an increase in tourist arrivals could be more promising, noted the SLTDA Chair.
Fernando further said that one among those larger nations that has potential for Sri Lanka Tourism is Japan, while there is a promising potential in Korea and Australia apart from the nine major tourist markets for Sri Lanka. “If you look to Europe, in its countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and others that also show outbound potential,” he added.
Therefore, he pointed out that Sri Lanka should have to have flights from the different originating points to create a convenient travel network in drawing the traffic to Sri Lanka.