SITA to promote Indian up market travellers
 

Hiran H. Senewiratne reporting from London

London, November 16, A leading Indian travel agency, South India Travel Agency Sita World Travel(Lanka) (Pvt) Ltd (SITA- Sri Lanka) has tied up with a top Indian travel TV Channel, Voyages to promote Sri Lanka amongst Indian households, who belong to the middle upper segment income earner travellers.

Sita contributes to the growth of Sri Lankan tourist industry. Our main strategy is to promote Sri Lanka as one of the best tourist destinations among Indian travellers, its General Manager Tony Maheswaran told the Daily News.

He said to do that they have tied up with the channel which is a dedicated travel channel for Indians. Its presenters are key Indian personalities and programmes are designed to cater to the lucrative Indian market's expectations. Maheswaran said that this is a strategic move to promote Sri Lanka throughout India using its 24-hour travel channel.

'This is a first time that this type of strategy adopted by SITA and be launched on November 21, he said. He said that at the time of the launch, it is estimated to reach 6 million Indian household viewers and within one year this channel would reach 20 million Indian household travellers. He said they have seen a huge potential in the market and this segment will bring big revenue to Sri Lanka.

Maheswaran also said that India is a Sleeping giant as far as Sri Lanka's tourist industry is concerned and it will be a big boost to the entire Sri Lankan tourist industry.

With the tie-up with the Indian travel channel the number of Indian tourists will increase to Sri Lanka. The General Manager said that they are looking at tourist destinations where families are interested in including beaches and the cultural triangle.

He also said that areas like Negombo and Bentota have been earmarked to promote initially with the immediate launch and subsequently in Kandy. The Voyages TV will telecast Sri Lankan destinations when need arises to prevent the congestion, he said, SITA Travel is owned by Kuoni Travels in UK and has been operating in most of the tourist destinations in the world.