More charters and airlines will boost arrivals, Deputy Minister

Deputy Tourism Minister Faizer Musthapha said that tourism arrivals were totally dependent on air passage Sri Lanka should promote itself as a commercially viable destination for more airlines.

“It is important to improve this sector because I believe it will bring more travellers to Sri Lanka. Most of the airlines have pulled out of Sri Lanka, not because of the security situation, but because they felt it was not commercially viable. More charters and new airlines will definitely boost arrival. We have to address that issue by offering more incentives,” he said.

Meanwhile, officials said Sri Lanka was one of the few countries to push for the green globe theme in world tourism and was now addressing its responsibility as a global citizen.The comments came against the backdrop of the formation of ‘Travel guilt’, a new forum against the climate change and Global Warming in Britain.