Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities are currently eyeing the next influx of tourists from West Asia as these travellers were said to have cancelled their holiday plans for the post Ramazan season in the wake of the Kandy violence that broke out in March this year. Kandy Hoteliers Association President Samantha Ratnayaka said that they had [...]

Business Times

Govt. to brief WA media on Kandy at ATM

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Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities are currently eyeing the next influx of tourists from West Asia as these travellers were said to have cancelled their holiday plans for the post Ramazan season in the wake of the Kandy violence that broke out in March this year.

Kandy Hoteliers Association President Samantha Ratnayaka said that they had spoken with hoteliers and found that though about 40 per cent of bookings were cancelled following the spate of violence in the hill capital, there was a surge in bookings by about 10 per cent to date for visits post June.

The July and August arrivals seem promising, Mr. Ratnayake pointed out adding that they expect the Kandy Perahera to bring in the numbers as always even this year.

It was noted that about 50 travel and tourism industry companies from here would participate at the Arabian Travel Mart (ATM) scheduled to start next week.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam said that they expect the ATM to be the platform to attract more arrivals this year.

This year’s travel mart is crucial in that the authorities would be planning to conduct a media conference to highlight that the situation in the country was returning to normal with about 60 media houses expected to attend the event.

Meanwhile, a number of road shows would be held in all West Asia cities like Sharjah, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain this week. Feedback obtained from the travel industry there had indicated that they were convinced that the situation in Sri Lanka was returning to normal.

Moreover, a team of 150 Spanish travel agents scheduled to visit Sri Lanka were expected to make a stop in Kandy as well that would give authorities the opportunity to showcase to the world the normalcy that prevails in this tourist destination.

Kandy hoteliers incurred a loss of approximately over Rs.1 million for 982 room cancellations last month following communal clashes that affected the region.

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