Tourism resurgence in Sri Lanka

Shirajiv Sirimane in London

Sri Lanka as a tourist destination has made a very strong recovery, Director General Federation of Tour Operators United Kingdom, Andrew V. Cooper said.

"Sri Lanka had set backs in 2007, with adverse travel advisories especially in Europe inspired by the North East conflict. These advisories have now been relaxed and Sri Lanka has done well to bounce back," he said.

Cooper said the counter advertising campaign launched by Sri Lanka Tourism on adverse reports had been very effective and this was the key reason for Sri Lanka to recover by the end of the year.

He added that UK travellers prefer to fly out to long haul destinations such as Sri Lanka and the country would also benefit from it in the future.

He commended Sri Lankan Tourist Board office in UK, as it is one of the best in performance.

The UK Tourist Board office has also been short listed as a recipient of the prestigious British Travel Awards from among 70 boards all over the world.

Sri Lanka also received a boost for publicity as the Lonely Planet magazine in their 2008 calendar has dedicated November for Sri Lanka. In addition 'Selling Long Haul' magazine, which is widely circulated in UK, has dedicated its cover page of the November edition to Sri Lanka.

Director Sri Lanka Tourism, UK and Ireland, Jean Mark Flambert said that the British arrivals to Sri Lanka were picking up especially in the last two months.

"The 2007 arrivals for August and September increased from 15, 686 to 17,420 the previous year.

The up coming English Cricket tour would also help UK arrivals," Flambert said. He noted that with the British Pound being strong, the UK tourists' spending power is very high and their average stay is around ten days. "The British arrivals are 20 per cent of the overall arrivals to Sri Lanka. However their value is over 35 per cent due to their strong currency and spending patterns," he said.

"The average spending per day of a tourist in Sri Lanka is around US $ 85 while a British tourist spends around 80 British Pounds, which values double," he added.

Deputy Minister of Tourism, Faizer Musthapha said that there is a 300,000 Sri Lankan expatriate population in Britain and that it is an exciting market.

"However Sri Lanka needs an additional airline and we are looking at this possibility," he said.

He also said that they explore the possibility of offering concessions by way of ground handling and other incentives for airlines to fly from UK to Sri Lanka.

"Negotiations are also underway to woo Virgin Atlantic airlines, which already flies to India and Mauritius to have a stopover in Colombo," he added. World Travel Market 2007, the second largest travel exhibition in the world after ITB Berlin, is nearly two per cent larger compared to last year, welcoming 5,402 exhibitors from more than 200 regions and countries.

The four new countries, Bosnia, Herzegovina, San Marino, Gibraltar and the Yemen, which are exhibiting for the first time, have returned after a long absence.