The proposed agreement with the award-winning Dubai-based global airline Emirates to boost Sri Lanka tourism has been rescheduled to 5 March.

The landmark agreement was to be signed on 4 January on the side-lines of Sri Lanka’s participation at the Expo 2020 in Dubai and celebrations of Sri Lanka’s National Day on Monday.

“The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been postponed to 5 March in line with singing sensation Yohani de Silva’s performance due to the sudden rise in daily COVID-19 Omicron cases,” Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando told the Daily FT.

She said both of these events were scheduled to be held along with Sri Lanka National Day at the Expo 2020 in Dubai.

The proposed agreement was to see Emirates stepping up promotion of Sri Lanka as a safe and attractive destination for holidays.

In November, Emirates announced the addition of two more flights to Colombo to support the resurgence of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry as more key source markets relax travel restrictions. This increased direct flights between Dubai and Colombo to 14-a-week, taking the weekly schedule to Sri Lanka to 21 flights a week.

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