DUBAI – Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau has successfully concluded a three-day promotional mission to the United Arab Emirates as part of its on-going efforts to develop new markets and increase the number of visitors and spend from the region to Sri Lanka. Headed by Madubhani Perera, Director/Marketing, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, a delegation of thirty-three partners from Sri Lanka’s tourism and hospitality industries visited Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai and held the roadshow at Radisson Blu Sharjah, Le Royale Meridien Abu Dhabi and Crowne Plaza Sheikh Zayed Road Dubai last April 17, 18 and 19, 2018, holding one to one meetings and informational seminars with leading travel agency representatives and outbound operators in each city.

Madubhani Perera, Director/Marketing, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, said “the mission has been a resounding success, with excellent attendance with the right partners in each of the cities visited, and our co-participating Sri Lankan industry partners reporting highly productive meetings that will result in increased business and travel to Sri Lanka from the region.”

In 2017, Sri Lanka received a total of 78,873 tourists from the Middle East region with UAE as one of the fastest growing tourism market from the region with a total of 7,136 visitors. Currently there are 70 direct flight services a week connecting UAE to Sri Lanka suggesting the potential to grow and develop the market further is great, especially as travellers from the country on average have one of the highest travel spends in the world. This will result in not only return dividends for Sri Lanka’s tourism and hospitality industries, but also for the retail industry.

Perera added “Sri Lanka has much to offer visitors from UAE with our distinctive, adventure-packed, eco-friendly, family-focused experiences and offerings, as well as our rich nature, heritage and culture, year-round schedule of festivals and special events, numerous parks and eco centers, luxury resorts and wellness centres, and romantic settings for honeymooners and couples. Our mission has done much to put Sri Lanka on the map and in the hearts and minds of UAE-based travel partners, and in combination with future promotions planned for the country and the region, I’m confident we will see many more visitors from UAE making Sri Lanka their next holiday destination of choice in the coming months.”

In each of the cities visited over a hundred key outbound travel professionals attended the Sri Lanka Tourism workshops and seminars to learn more about Sri Lanka’s touristic offerings and business opportunities to promote destination Sri Lanka to their clients. The Sharjah and Dubai-leg was attended by Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Dubai and Northern Emirates Charitha Yattogoda.

Meanwhile, SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka and a member of the oneworld airline alliance, is looking to spread its wings further in the Middle East, by rolling out the red carpet to the travel trade at the 25th edition of Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

SriLankan Airlines is already popular with Middle East travellers, having gained a reputation for fine service and excellent hospitality and efficient connections to Colombo and onward to Asia and Australia.

At ATM, the airline from the Emerald Isle is looking to attract even more tourists and business travellers from the region, by leveraging the enormous pulling power of the Indian Ocean island paradise combined with seamless onward connections to India, Southeast, East Asia as well as to Australia.

With inbound tourist numbers on the upswing, SriLankan Airlines will be hoping to gain maximum mileage with travel industry decision makers from across the wider region, most of whom will be attending Arabian Travel Market, the leading international trade event for travel and tourism industry in the Middle East and beyond.

“We regard Arabian Travel Market as an important stage to reach the travel industry professionals in the Middle East, which is one of our most important source destinations,” said Saminda Perera, General Manager Marketing SriLankan Airlines. “It is important to be present here to both interact and network with our regional travel trade partners as also acquaint them with our latest product offerings and future developments.”

Responding to growing demand from the region, SriLankan Airlines has recently boosted its services with daily flights to Colombo from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Muscat, Bahrain and Kuwait to 68 flights a week. The airline is also looking at increasing connectivity to other parts of the Gulf depending on demand.

SriLankan Airlines today flies an all Airbus fleet, which includes the state-of-the-art A330-300 and A320neo aircraft connecting to 105 destinations in 47 countries (including codeshare operations). — SG