Govt confident of 2.5 m tourist target by 2016
The Government plans to reach a target of 2.5 million tourists by
2016.
Economic Development Deputy Minster Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said
that all promotional activities and events will be planned in the next
couple of years to achieve this target. He said during January this
year, the total arrivals have recorded a 46 percent growth in comparison
to the same period last year.
The highest number of arrivals were from the Western European
countries with a remarkable growth in markets like Denmark and Finland.
With all these promising signs Sri Lanka Tourism will offer surprise
packages to the 250,000th, 500,000th, 600,000th and 700,000th tourist
that arrives in the island to mark Refreshingly Sri Lanka Visit 2011.
"We need to convert Sri Lanka into the most popular tourist
destination in the world with an accelerated tourism related development
drive," he said.
The Tourism authorities have drawn up a plan to promote the novel
attractions in the country to cater to the expected tourist influx in
the coming years.
"We will take every possible effort to make the tourism industry the
highest foreign exchange earner of the country.
"The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau has launched the "Visit Sri
Lanka 2011" campaign aiming to attract over 800,000 tourists this year.
"We have taken measures to display banners of most popular tourist
destinations besides the main road from the Bandaranaike International
Airport to Colombo," the Deputy Minster said.
"This move will create an awareness among tourists about many places
of historical value and scenic beauty across the country," he said.
It has been planned to launch a joint tourist promotional program
with the assistance of local and foreign media personnel. "We will
invite media personnel to see islandwide tourist destinations," he said.
"This will greatly help promote Sri Lankan tourism globally.
"We plan to promote the country's untapped tourist potential. This
will help improve tourism at village level thus improving the living
standards of villagers," he said. IR |
