Hotels and airlines to meet today to firm up offers to lure tourists

Thursday, 9 May 2019 00:45 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Hotels and airlines will have their second meeting today to firm up respective special offers they could introduce in a bid to lure tourists who have avoided Sri Lanka post-Easter Sunday terror attacks. Today’s meeting is a follow up to their inaugural discussions held last week.

“We will discuss what each other can offer in terms of special deals and agree on what is most attractive,” an industry source told the Daily FT. Apart from national carrier SriLankan Airlines, at present, four other airlines have come forward to participate in the special effort to revive inbound tourist traffic. They are Emirates, Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Air India. Members of the Tourist Hotels Association, City Hotels Association, Board of Airline Representatives, and officials from the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and Sri Lanka Conventions Bureau will attend today’s meeting. Since the Easter Sunday terror attacks on three churches and equal number of city five star hotels which killed over 250 including 44 tourists and injured over 500, tourist arrivals have declined by 50-70% to 1,700 daily and hotel occupancy has plunged to below 10% from 75% prior to 21 April.

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