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Fifteen-thousand bookings already received:
AirAsia to commence direct daily flights from Aug 15
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AirAsia Regional Head of Commercial, Kathleen Tan presents a
token of appreciation to Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Bernard
Goonetilleke. Picture by Saliya Rupasinghe.
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The world's best low cost airline, AirAsia will commence direct daily
flights from Colombo to Kuala Lumpur from August 15.
AirAsia Regional Head of Commercial, Kathleen Tan told a media
briefing yesterday that they had already received 15,000 bookings for
the newly launched flight.
"Today people use the internet heavily for planning their tours and
nearly 75 percent of travel plans are made through the internet search.
This market is very important, and we are planning to tap this segment.
We expect to work closely with the Google, she said.
Nearly 60 percent of our passengers are new travellers and low cost
air fares will encourage repeat air travels. AirAsia will promote Sri
Lanka as an attractive tourist destination using the internet as a main
channel. "We have developed special pages on Sri Lanka targeting the UK
and Australian travellers. Our team in Sri Lanka will negotiate with
local hotels to enter into an agreement to facilitate AirAsia passengers
and promote Sri Lanka tourism," he said.
Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Bernard Goonetilleke said the tourism
industry in Sri Lanka has a huge growth potential. Sri Lanka can attract
tourists who love culture, nature and adventure.
"AirAsia's decision to fly to Colombo signifies its confidence in Sri
Lanka as a tourist destination. The inclusion of Colombo in a successful
and massive network of destinations signals an impending growth in local
tourism. We expect the entry of this strong player in the field to
translate into healthier earnings for our tourism related industries",
he said.
With this air connectivity between Colombo and Kuala Lumpur, mutual
economic benefits can be expected as AirAsia's low fares and innovative
services will definitely stimulate more travel both inbound and outbound
from these two destinations, he said.
"We expect to meet diplomatic heads in Sri Lanka to explain the
current situation in the country and remove travel advisories imposed by
some countries to facilitate tourists arrivals," he said. AS
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