Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando said that they are expecting over USD 1.7 billion tourism revenue and over one million arrivals in 2022. He said that many airlines like Swiss air, Asus air and Aeroflot from Russia and Air France have added Colombo to their route network and this will help to boost tourism.
“In addition we will host three road shows in Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi and these too would bolster arrivals.”We are aggressively promoting India due to its high connectivity.”
The Minister also disclosed plans to sign a MoU with Extreme Sports of London to promote adventure sports in Sri Lanka he said at the launch of Sri Lankan Smile event.
The stakeholders of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka, under the name “Save the Sri Lankan Smile” launched a campaign that has been built on a platform to bring a fast and effective recovery of tourism to Sri Lanka at Ramada Hotel in Colombo yesterday.
Through this campaign “Save the Sri Lankan Smile” we are expecting a significant number of tourist arrivals to be drawn in during the upcoming winter season. We also hope to reach over 4-5 million Sri Lankans domiciled in other countries,” said Nilmin Nanayakkara, a pioneer of the Sri Lankan tourism industry and Managing Director of a long-standing DMC, NKAR Travels and Tours (Pvt) Ltd.
The campaign, “Save the Sri Lankans Smile” will be enriched with its own Instagram/Facebook pages, YouTube channel and Web sites. With the launching of the campaign, the industry looks forward to having the national carrier and Sri Lanka tourism taking the lead driving the campaign.
“If we look back, since after the Easter bomb attack in April 2019, followed by the COVID pandemic, for almost three consecutive years, as a nation we have not been able to secure due tourism arrivals to the country. This situation was further stretched due to the economic crisis in the country.”
Having experienced adverse economic situations, we all agree tourism plays a vital role in the Sri Lankan economic wheel. A group came together to evaluate and address the important aspects of the industry for a quick recovery.”
NKAR Travels and Tours (Pvt) Ltd will bring this white label campaign up to the launch and from there onwards the ownership will be handed over to the industry across the island.
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