Sri Lanka gets down to business to woo tourists

• Sri Lanka Tourism and SriLankan Airlines join to attract more visitors from August
• To launch ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ offer in 18 key markets
• Promotion to kick off in Germany and Middle East next month, other markets to follow depending on lifting of travel restrictions

By Charumini de Silva

Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando

SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ashok Pathirage

Sri Lanka Tourism and SriLankan Airlines have partnered to attract more visitors from August with the launch of a ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ offer.

“We are currently working with SriLankan Airlines and the tourism industry to launch a buy-one-get-one-free offer mid-August in several key markets. We are planning to start the promotion immediately with Germany and the Middle East,” Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando told the Daily FT.

She said the same promotions will be introduced in other key markets such as the UK, France, Australia, India and China once the outbound and inbound travel restrictions are lifted.

SriLankan Airlines too has identified 18 countries to roll out this promotion in, namely the UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and the Maldives.

The national carrier will launch the buy-one-get-one-free for all destinations, excluding Russia, for foreign passport holders gradually from August depending on travel restrictions.

Fernando also said Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) offer great promise.

“The CIS market is a low hanging fruit, as they have no travel restrictions and have limited warm weather destination options currently,” she said, adding that the direct weekly SriLankan Airlines flight from August would be an ideal opportunity.

Fernando said a digital advertising campaign had been approved and agency selection process via Sri Lanka Tourism mission had begun. “As part of the global campaign, the tender process has already started to secure a destination representation company in Russia to conduct extensive promotions.”

In terms of new market prospects, she highlighted that Sri Lankan diaspora visiting family and friends was also an opportunity, particularly from the US, where citizens were permitted to freely travel.

Fernando also said Air France – the French flag carrier – planning to fly to Sri Lanka from November was a very positive development.

“France is a key market for us and in June it was the largest source market for us with 654, largely due to the tour of French naval personnel and officers.”

SriLankan Airlines is lending strategic support via the offer in the national interest and to revive tourism sector faster. The move comes despite the airline posting a Rs. 45.6 billion loss in FY2021. This was due to the impact of the prevailing Covid 19 situation, as well as rising costs of jet fuel, aircraft operating leasing costs and other operating leasing costs.

Tourist arrivals in the first six months amounted to 16,808, a welcome development since the reopening of borders on 21 January, but down by 97% from last year’s first half.

In June, tourist arrivals increased by 7% to 1,614 from May, despite the travel restrictions in place as a result of the ongoing third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Europe was the largest source region, with 11,916 travellers of the total traffic received in the first half of the year, whilst Asia and Pacific and the Americas accounted for 3,254 and 1,334 tourists respectively.