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Friday, 17 February 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Ceremonial opening of IMTM 2017 by Minister John Amaratunga, Israel’s Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin and Turkey’s Minister of Tourism, Nabi Avci
The recently concluded International Mediterranean Tourism Market (IMTM 2017) showed great potential for tourism in Sri Lanka.
“Everyone in the Middle East region knows about Sri Lanka and there is a huge wave of interest. The only problem is connectivity,” noted Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga, who led a Sri Lankan delegation to the travel fair in Tel Aviv, Israel last week.
“Due to the prevailing security issues, tourists do not wish to travel via the Middle East region. As a result there are limited options with regard to connectivity with Colombo. The most popular route to Colombo at present is via Istanbul in Turkey. Unfortunately this flight too is via Male which means a long flight,” said Minister Amaratunga.
The issue cropped up during discussions between Minister Amaratunga and Israeli tour agents. They pointed out that the main issue holding back Israelis from visiting Sri Lanka was the non-availability of a direct flight between Tel Aviv and Colombo. According to tour operators and travel agents the current outbound tourist traffic from Israel to Sri Lanka can be doubled if direct flights are available.
“I was informed that two companies have made preparations to begin charter flights to Colombo in the near future. Plans are being finalised in this regard. More are to follow suit due to the growing demand. It would be ideal if the national carrier too could look at the feasibility of flying to this destination,” said Minister Amaratunga. Arrivals from Israel last year grew by 33.4% year on year to over 10,000 visitors whereas overall growth from the Middle East region was 6.5% in 2016. Israeli tour operators told the Sri Lankan delegation that there was potential to increase outbound traffic from Israel to Sri Lanka to about 100,000 visitors a year. The two sides agreed to explore ways and means of improving connectivity and also arranging more charter flights as an interim solution.
