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First-ever tourists from Uzbekistan being welcomed at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport yesterday - Pix by Daminda Harsha Perera
Aitken Spence Travels, the leading DMC in Sri Lanka welcomed the country’s first charter flight from Uzbekistan yesterday.
There will be a weekly flight operating every Wednesday until the end of March.
This charter airline operation will be partnered with a leading tour operator of Uzbekistan and generate approximately 1,200 guests to Sri Lanka.
All charter flights of Uzbekistan Airways will land at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), Mattala from where all passengers would depart on their tours.
A special welcome has been arranged at the Mattala airport, as this is the first international flight from this source market.
Further, necessary arrangements have been made to welcome all Uzbekistani visitors, in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s and the Tourism Authority’s health and safety guidelines and rules.
Aitken Spence Travels Managing Director Nalin Jayasundera said: “I am delighted to welcome visitors from Uzbekistan to Sri Lanka. This is a new market for us and for Sri Lanka as well.
While the world is still fighting the COVID 19 pandemic, we managed to break into this new source market after conducting a marketing campaign, making presentations, and organising promotions among a large group of agents in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which is a landlocked country in Central Asia.”
“It’s a historical country linked to the Silk Road. Our efforts were rewarded when we won the confidence of the Uzbekistan agents as they saw Sri Lanka as a safe and secure travel destination to be explored and enjoyed by their holiday makers.
“We are happy to support the stakeholders of the tourism industry and contribute to the Sri Lankan economy at this critical moment as this step will lead to the road to recovery of the tourism in Sri Lanka as a whole,” he added.
Aitken Spence said travellers from Uzbekistan are particularly interested in visiting Sri Lanka because of the country’s rich heritage as well as basking in the sun kissed golden sandy beaches. In addition, the Uzbekistani accommodation options range from four to five-star properties. Hence, Uzbekistani tourists can be classified as high-value tourists.
More of these types of new source markets need to be identified and explored by Sri Lanka, as it would assist in reviving the industry’s much needed tourism related jobs and contribute to the country’s economic stabilisation through foreign income.
Aitken Spence Travels will also open its brand-new travel counter at the Mattala airport in pursuit of welcoming visitors who land in Mattala. The counter will have facilities to book tours, private transfers, and accommodation options as well.
Some tourists from Uzbekistan who arrived yesterday seen converting their dollars to rupee at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport
