Tourists keep on coming - Tourist Board Director General

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

COLOMBO: Tourist arrivals in the country this year will exceed the 2005 figure indicating a steady traffic of inbound travellers to Sri Lanka contrary to the bleak picture painted by some, Sri Lanka Tourist Board Director General Seenivasagam Kalaiselvam said.

He said the total tourist arrivals in 2005 was 549,308 while arrivals upto November this year is 523,587. In terms of these statistics the total number of arrivals by the end of the year will exceed the number of tourist arrivals for 2005 as a whole, he said.

Elaborating on Sri Lanka's main tourist markets, he said 45 per cent of tourist arrivals were from India, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Over 100,000 Indian tourists visit Sri Lanka every year while 80,000 arrive from the UK. The number of German tourists to Sri Lanka annually is about 45,000, he added.

The Tourist Board will take part in the ITB, the world's largest travel and tourism fair to be held in Berlin from March 7 to 11 and meetings have already been held with the private sector in this regard.

The Board is having a continuous dialogue with key players in the tourism industry in order to take Sri Lankan tourism industry forward, he added.

Director, Sales and Marketing, Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo, Chris Quyn said that generally his hotel is doing well and about 65 per cent of rooms are full. Normally December is a dull period for the hotel industry because a majority return to home for Christmas, he added.

General Manager, Blue Water Hotel, Wadduwa, Roshan Perera said that his hotel was doing well during the current season and business has picked up. Business will further improve in the coming weeks, he added.

More locals are also patronising upper class hotels giving a boost to domestic tourism and many hotels have announced special packages for locals and resident visa holders.