Comment

A boon for travel and tourism

The tourism industry is likely to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the peace dividend. The conflict kept many potential tourists away from our shores as several countries issued adverse travel advisories. Now that the conflict is over with the total defeat of the LTTE, the tourism industry is on the verge of an unprecedented revival. There are indications that winter bookings are already up and Sri Lanka could be on target to woo one million tourists in the next few years.

The biggest problem, other than the conflict, that has kept travellers away from Sri Lanka is the lack of airline seats into Colombo. As the conflict escalated over the years, several leading airlines withdrew from Colombo, creating a vacuum is terms of the number of seats. Although some charters stepped into fill the void, it was not enough as most independent travellers prefer to use scheduled airlines.

The good news is that several airlines have already announced plans to increase the number of flights to Colombo and use bigger aircraft. Emirates was the first to announce such a measure. This is a vote of confidence in the Sri Lankan tourism industry by Emirates, the second biggest operator to and from Colombo.

Qatar Airways has also unveiled plans to operate three flights a day from Colombo. They already fly twice a day to Doha from Colombo. This will also boost tourist and migrant labour traffic.

Another exciting prospect is the arrival of new airlines into Colombo.

Malaysia-based Air Asia, a budget airline will launch flights to Colombo in a few months. This will enable more South East Asian tourists to visit Sri Lanka at affordable rates. Sri Lanka Tourism and the hotel industry should tailor suitable packages for such Asian tourists.

India's Kingfisher is another new airline flying to Colombo. This is also a positive development, with India becoming Sri Lanka's biggest tourism market. One cannot forget our own SriLankan and Mihin Lanka, which are expected to increase the number of flights with the dawn of a peaceful climate.

Sri Lanka has signed bilateral air services agreements with many countries, some of which have not been utilized by either side. It is time to revive these agreements and invite these airlines to fly to Colombo. Among them are some airlines which previously flew to Colombo. The re-entry of these prestigious airlines to Sri Lanka will be a boost to the country's image.

Developing the domestic airline industry is also essential to boost tourism. Several destinations in the North and the East have the potential of becoming tourism hotspots, but the distance, security issues and lack of access kept them away from the tourist trail. These sites could now be developed, along with the renovation of nearby airstrips and airfields. The domestic airline network should be expanded to meet the future demands and more companies should be encouraged to invest in this burgeoning sector.

Another worrying factor is that the leading cruise lines call at Colombo only rarely as a result of the security situation. This should no longer be the case in the post-LTTE era. They should be invited to include Colombo in their itineraries again, as cruise passengers are generally believed to be more affluent than those arriving by air. In other words, they are likely to spend more tourist dollars here.

The construction of a modern cruise terminal at the Colombo Port and a better marina for yachts in Galle are essential to attract more cruise liners and private yachts.

Sri Lanka should also take advantage of its 'gateway to South Asia' status to become an air and sea transport hub for the region. Colombo must be projected as an easy transit point for the South Asian region.

Intra-regional airline and tourism links should be developed. More than 20 years after the establishment of SAARC, all the eight capitals are still not connected to one another by air. This should be rectified without delay and the SAARC region portrayed essentially as one destination.

The possibility of introducing a common SAARC Visa, on the lines of Europe's Schengen, must be explored to facilitate seamless, borderless travel in the eight countries. The arrival of more airlines into Colombo will thus precipitate a tourism boom not only for Sri Lanka, but also for the rest of South Asia.