SriLankan airlines invests Rs. 350 m to promote tourism

Shirajiv Sirimane

INVESTMENT. SriLankan airlines, had invested Rs. 350 million for the promotion of tourism for 2006 said the CEO, Peter Hill. He said that this year too they would invest similar amount to promote the country as a destination.

Speaking to the Daily News at the launch of the second international golf tournament, “SriLankan Strokes”, at the Waters Edge he said that they are co sponsoring the event in an effort to promote sports tourism in Sri Lanka.

He said that that last year, in addition to advertising, special promotions and offering special discounted airfares, they also brought leading personalities, chefs, journalists and sportsmen for events held in Sri Lanka.

SriLankan special on line offers had prompted many European tourists to travel to Sri Lanka as free individual travelers (FIT) and spend their money in Sri Lanka.

Hill said however that the airline is now in a situation where they are unable to make major investments since the event will be held in Nuwara Eliya there is no feed back from the Government about the deal with Emirates.

“The agreement ends next year and until then Emirates is unable to make financial commitments to purchase aircraft’s. And due to the lack of new air crafts we are unable to look for new destinations,” he said.

SriLankan is offering discounted airfares for participants, and packages that include airport pickup and drop-off, accommodation, transport to Nuwara Eliya by coach, green fees, caddy fees and shuttle service from hotels to the golf course for the evnet.

In addition, the organisers have planned a variety of day programmes ranging from one-day to multi-day tours for the golfers and their companions.

All ground arrangements for participants and their companions will be taken care of by Hemtours, the official ground handling agent, while the official hotels for the tournament are Grand Hotel, St. Andrews, The Heritage and the Tea Factory.

SriLankan Strokes is the airlines’ third golf tournament, after the SriLankan Airlines Golf Classic, another international tournament and the NEGC Golf Tournament, a local event. Additional Director Sri Lanka Tourist Board Dileep Mudadeniya said that they would be prorogating more sports events in the future as well. “Sports tourism is a major growth area,” he said.

David J H Griffiths, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives, said that the event would provide a boost to tourism in Sri Lanka.