Tourism gets World Cup boost

Occupancy rate to hit 80 percent:

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

The tourism industry will be able to sustain its growth momentum and organizing international events in the magnitude of World Cup will further enhance growth.

Anura Kokuhetti

Colombo City Hoteliers’ Association President Shanthi Kumar said city hotels now have a 60 percent occupancy and is expected to increase up to 80 percent during the World Cup matches.

“The bookings are coming in mostly from India and UK and we offer normal packages for tourists coming in. A lot of enthusiasm is shown and an upward movement in tourist arrivals could be expected in February and March,” he said.

International events such as the World Cup will boost Sri Lanka’s image and will attract more tourists to the country. We are already enjoying a good winter season and expect this trend to continue, Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka President Anura Lokuhetti told Daily News Business.

“Despite the bad weather conditions tourist arrivals have recorded marked increase.

This is the first largest international event to be conducted with proper peace in Sri Lanka. We need to provide the required publicity to derive maximum benefit for the industry,” he said.

Bookings for the winter season are good and industry will record a good February. The bad weather in Europe will provide an opportunity for countries such as Sri Lanka.

Most number of tourists arrive from Europe and India too is a lucrative market. There will be more Indian tourists to watch the World Cup matches and India will be the single largest country to play a vital role in arrivals to the country.

“As a tourist destination, Sri Lanka is in a much better position than other countries to attract tourists. The interest regarding Sri Lanka is building up and this will have a positive impact on the tourism industry,” he said.