Emirates confident of outbound tourism in Sri Lanka
Thursday, 21 November 2013 00:00
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Emirates Holidays partners with Aitken Spence Travels for outbound travel
Opens dedicated retail outlet and call centre
Announces inaugural packages to Dubai, Singapore, Maldives and Turkey
Sri Lankan noted among fastest growing markets for Emirates
Emirates holidays enjoys 80% traffic in inbound sector to the country
10,000 inbound customers in three years target for Sri Lanka
By Cheranka Mendis
Noted as one of the fastest growing, if not the fastest growing market within the Emirates portfolio, Sri Lanka is ready to expand its travel and tourism product in the coming years, and Emirates Holidays is all set to reap its benefits.
The tour operating arm of Emirates Airlines, Emirates Holidays yesterday opened a dedicated office in Colombo in partnership with Aitken Spence Travels, the Preferred Agent (PA) for Sri Lanka and Maldives in Vauxhall Street focusing on four select destinations and inaugural offers to entice the discerning traveller.
In Colombo to make the announcement, Emirates Destination and Leisure Management Divisional Senior Vice President Marc Bennett noted that Emirates Holidays have enjoyed a growth of 80% in inbound traffic to Sri Lanka this year and that the company will roll out a comprehensive technical ability plan to contribute more seriously in to the growth of the market and inbound as a destination.
“Two days ago, the Emirates Airlines CEO announced a $ 1 billion order of aircrafts, the largest order in aviation history, and I feel it perfect timing to declare the developing of outbound tourism from Sri Lanka,” Bennett told the media.
Observing that exciting times are a ahead for the group, he asserted that Emirates Holidays have worked incredibly hard this year in partnership with Aitken Spence to develop their business in Sri Lanka, so much so, that Emirates Holidays managed to enjoy a considerable growth percentage in inbound traffic to Sri Lanka this year.
Sri Lanka as a key destination
“We have grown as inbound business in to Sri Lanka,” he said. “Emirates Holidays have been expanding as an organisation globally. We have some excellent technical ability and as we roll that out, we will become a serious contributor of growth to this market and inbound as a destination.”
Speaking of Sri Lanka’s advantages over neighbouring countries to become a key destination, Bennett listed the quality of hotels, standards of hospitality and warmth of the Sri Lankans. “Excitingly, the east coast is absolutely stunning and is totally and utterly undeveloped in terms of global tourism. There is opportunity for Sri Lanka to develop that coast and bring more tourists to the huge area. It is very exciting for us.”
Opening of the new office
Bennett stated that with Aitken Spence proving its worth over time, it became logical to grow that partnership into outbound, something new to both parties in Sri Lanka.
The partnership and the opening of the dedicated retail outlet is the first in a long term expansion strategy for Emirates Holidays to bring the brand to a wider audience in key markets. The total expenditure on the outlet was listed at $ 15 million.
The opening of the new office will simplify the buying and selling process and is expected to improve the level of engagement with customers.
“With this new collaboration, our aim is to provide the best possible holiday products and the most memorable experiences across our vast network through Emirates. Our customers always travel secure in the knowledge that our holiday experts have spent a great deal of time visiting the destinations, checking hotels, evaluating excursions and appointing local representatives, so they may be confident that their vacation arrangements have been thoroughly and professionally organised. As all packages include flights on Emirates, our customers are likewise assured of the quality of product and service the airline has been known for,” Bennett added.
Aitken Spence Travels Managing Director Nalin Jayasundera said: “Aitken Spence Travels is delighted to partner with Emirates Holidays to offer a wide range of holiday destinations to the Sri Lankan traveller.
“We are extremely confident of creating a major demand for travel with Emirates Holidays as it offers 136 destinations worldwide catering to different segments. For Emirates Holidays, we have dedicated staff experienced in delivering service beyond the expectations of the discerning traveller.”
“We now have a shop in Colombo. This is a market that needs retail presence and it is a market in which we will undoubtedly grow our retail presence,” Bennett explained.
Destinations and inaugural offers
Emirates Holidays will initially focus on four select destinations – Dubai, Singapore, the Maldives and Turkey – although its global portfolio of packages as well as bespoke holidays in more than 100 destinations will be available for purchase in Sri Lanka.
To celebrate the new partnership an inaugural offer of special packages to Dubai, Singapore, Maldives and Turkey has been designed inclusive of return flights and hotel stays for three nights/ four days starting from $ 599 per person.
Emirates connect travellers in Sri Lanka to 136 destinations, including direct flights to Dubai, Singapore and the Maldives. In June this year, Emirates increased capacity on its services to Colombo, with the addition of three more flights per week on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays between Dubai and Colombo, taking the total number of weekly Emirates flights serving Colombo to 34.
“Emirates like to give its customers a seamless experience. I am proud that this has now been diversified in to the area of holidays,” Emirates Area Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives Chandana de Silva said.
Plans to develop Sri Lankan market
While the market demands a retail presence for growth, trends show an increasingly mobile based consumer market emerging in the future.
Bennett observed that Sri Lanka’s online presence includes 1.2 million locals using email and 2.4 million locals using Facebook. Out of the latter, 1.4 million use Facebook on a mobile device.
“Your holiday product must be on mobile device. As we progress our relationship and develop our understanding in the market with local experts – which is the best way to penetrate local market, technology will play a major part and we have both inbound and outbound technical vision to support that.”
Bennett maintained: “We are thrilled, humbled and understand the market to a certain extent in terms of products and pricing but we don’t understand the market distribution dynamics and we have chosen to work with Aitken Spence. We are convinced it will lead to healthy outbound numbers and we will be able to provide inevitable and exciting itinerates to Sri Lankans. Equally, we have a massive inbound business which is bound to grow.”
A challenge in the next three years has been ser to reach the magic number of 10,000 on inbound customers in Sri Lanka. “This is wholly achievable.”
“It is exciting for us. We will make it a success, we won’t do things by half and in partnership with Aitken Spence we hope to take Sri Lankans to some of our destinations around the world and bring in many, many tourists to Sri Lanka as well.”
