More Polish charter flights to SL in winter season

•  LOT Polish Airlines 2024-2028 strategy identifies SL among profitable Asian destinations 

A surge in Polish visitors to Sri Lanka this winter/spring season is expected due to the increase in direct Polish charter flights from Warsaw and other Polish cities, to Colombo and Mattala airports. 

These include LOT Charters (a fully owned subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines – Boeing 787 Dreamliner), SkyUp Airlines (Boeing 737-800 NG) and Enter Air (largest Polish charter airline and second largest in Europe), in addition to the regular Turkish Airlines’ flights carrying Polish tourists to Sri Lanka from Warsaw via Istanbul. 

A fresh impetus to activate further interest in destination Sri Lanka, was given by the recent official unveiling of LOT Polish Airlines’ 2024-2028 strategy, which identified Sri Lanka among the profitable Asian destinations. 

Ambassador Dhammika Kumari Semasinghe, invitee of LOT Polish Chief Commercial Officer Michał Fijoł to the unveiling ceremony, welcomed the news that ITAKA Travels, a top Polish tour operator, in collaboration with LOT Charters and its Sri Lanka partner, will commence direct flights from Warsaw to Colombo, from 4 January until 21 March 2024.

While ENTER Air began its flights to Sri Lanka in November 2023, SkyUp Airlines will commence its first direct flight from Warsaw to Mattala on 18 December 2023, and for the first time, its second and third inaugural flights from Southern Polish cities Katowice and Rzeszów on 22 and 25 December, respectively, and continue until 16 April 2024. President of Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport Adam Hamryszczak, announcing the new destination Sri Lanka for SkyUp from Rzeszów said, “This would be the most exotic, transcontinental charter route offered from our airport. This Island in the Indian Ocean is famous for its charming remains of an ancient civilisation, golden beaches, tea, rubber and coconut plantations, and its architecture is stunning.”

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Warsaw has continued to maintain the momentum of its destination promotional activities in creative ways using different platforms, despite the resource constraints. The most notable is the Warsaw Mission’s success in increasing Sri Lanka’s visibility to millions of Polish people through its active participation each year, in the on-line charity auction of Poland’s biggest non-governmental/non-profit, charity-The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (GOCC, Polish Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy – WOŚP) via Allegro, the largest Polish e-commerce platform. 

Integrating trade and travel promotional activities, the Sri Lanka Mission continues to participate in public diplomacy events in different Polish cities and towns through its established networks. Early this year, the Mission, in partnership with Biedronka, LIVEE Polska and the Sri Lanka Tea Board, facilitated a Ceylon Tea/Lion Logo educational cum Sri Lanka promotional programme on ‘Dzien Dobry TVN’ (‘Good Morning TVN’ owned by US Warner Bros. Discovery).

The Sri Lanka Mission also partnered with ITAKA and Polish travel writer, photographer and blogger Alina Kręcisz to host a Sri Lanka promotional podcast at the ITAKA Studio in Pszczyna. These efforts have been augmented in Colombo, by the SLTB’s own promotional activities through Polish influencers on Social Media, contributing to further increasing travel interest in Sri Lanka.  

Sri Lanka’s standing in Poland, as an attractive destination in Asia, has substantially increased since August 2021, which resulted in Poland’s ranking among the top 10 tourism source countries for Sri Lanka from December 2021 until May 2022. Poland is also identified by the SLTB as a new tourism generating country in Central Europe, and is proving to regain its ranking once again in the upcoming winter/spring season 2024.