Weeratunge said prior to him being appointed Ambassador to Russia arrivals to Sri Lanka were less than 7,000 and he increased it by over hundredfold. Many people in Russia did not even know that a country such as Sri Lanka even existed and I coordinated with several local companies and held road shows and events to promote Sri Lanka
Opening new vistas in the Sri Lankan tourism landscape, former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga has successfully launched a mega tourism camping in Russia to woo their tourists to visit Sri Lanka from next month.
Tourists from Russia and the former breakaway states of USSR are already flying to the Dominican Republic,Turkey’s beach destinations and the Maldives. They are also keen to enjoy the Sri Lankan hospitality, spicy food and most importantly the beaches.
The winter season in Russia will start next month and will go on till April. Russians are looking at new horizons to travel during this period. “I saw that there is tremendous opportunity to field Sri Lanka to this emerging slot and have successfully made initiatives which were well received by the Russian Travel sector,” he told the Daily News.
“Now they are ready to travel to Sri Lanka and our country too needs to make new adjustments to welcome them.”
A proposal to the Cabinet in this regard has already been made and is awaiting approval allowing Russian tourists to visit and stay in Sri Lanka.
Updating the current development he said: “I have interacted with the Russian Travel Agents and airlines who say they are ready to send over 140 flights flying in more than 40,000 Russian tourists to Sri Lanka from October 2020 to April.
Outlining the modus operandi he said that all these tourists bound to Sri Lanka will first have to take a compulsory PCR test 3 days prior to departure. Due to lesser population and other logistical advantages, the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) has been selected as the airport to welcome these tourists.
Usually a second PCR test should be done upon landing but we have made a slight adjustment for this due to the ‘jet lag’ factor of the tourist flying nearly nine hours and other additional domestic travelling hours.
He explained that it takes around minimum three hours to perform a PCR test and a total in the excess of 10 hours will spoil the holiday mood of any tourist and this is the reason they are proposing a PCR test to be done in the hotel itself. “To overcome this we will conduct the second compulsory PCR test in their designated hotel.”
Special precautions would be taken at the hotel when accommodating guests and the staff would be specially trained by the local health authorities to meet, greet and accommodate the Russians.
The former Ambassador said since Russians are looking for a holiday by a sea, local hotels with beach frontage will get preference in this programme. Subsequently the beach frontage area would be encircled not allowing any Sri Lankans to venture into it.
“This is done as a precaution to safeguard locals and the spread of the Corona virus to Sri Lankans.” The hotel too will have to ensure that the staff does not leave the premises until this winter programme is completed.
The Russians can enjoy the beach and only would be allowed to travel out of the hotel after 15 days of their stay. “However observing the average ‘Russian night’s stay of 10 days’ I think they will leave after two weeks since flights too would be arriving and departing every week.”
The guests returning back to Russia after staying for two weeks stay would not be subject to any PCR tests as they have completed the ‘danger’ period of 14 days.
Tourist arrivals from Russia have hit an all-time high in 2019, with its flag carrier Aeroflot's expansion of services to Colombo playing a key part. As per provisional data, Russian tourists last year amounted to around 86,549 and surpassed the previous highest of 69,718, achieved in 2014. In 2020, Russia was the only top 10 source country in which a growth was recorded. Statistics reported that 5,761 Russian holidaymakers arrived in the island showing a growth of 86 percent.
Weeratunge said prior to him being appointed Ambassador to Russia arrivals to Sri Lanka were less than 7,000 and he increased it by over hundredfold. Many people in Russia did not even know that a country such as Sri Lanka even existed and I coordinated with several local companies and held road shows and events to promote Sri Lanka.
I went out of my way and printed a 300 page Sri Lanka hotel catalogue to the Russian market with details of local hotels and other tourist attractions in both languages. “However I was sad to note that this book was burnt and thrown away by the previous government simply because former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Tourism Minister Basil Rajapaksa and my name and photographs were printed in the first three pages.
The Russian Embassy staffers knowing the value of this book had pleaded with the then management of the Embassy to tear off the first three pages and distribute it but this request too was not heeded.
He also said that under his Ambassadorship mega trade promotions too were done to promote Sri Lankan products especially for tea and spices but lamented that this enthusiasm was not seen by his successors. It was in one of these promotion programmes that one of my staffers suffered an accident and I was accused of it.
Kenyan tea which is cheaper is fast catching the Russian market and a more aggressive tea marketing campaign to Russia is needed, he said.
Russian tourists are lavish spenders and hence it is an important market to Sri Lanka. The hotels must come out with more cultural, animation programmes and specially events to keep children occupied and not make their holiday an ‘ordinary’ vacation.
Weeratunge said that it would be a good idea to employ Russian speaking staff. The SME sector like mini gem shops, souvenir sellers too can set up small shops in the hotels but will have to remain in the hotel itself until such time this programme is completed.
He said that he does have any tourist hotels nor travel agencies and is purely doing this promotion to provide some kind of incentive to the COVID battered tourism industry. “There are over two million employed in the tourism sector in Sri Lanka and I feel that this initiative can give some kind of ‘breathing space’ for them”.
The successful launch of this programme can be treated as a ‘model project’ and a catalyst for Sri Lanka Tourism to woo other countries like China to follow.
