• Travel and hotel trade begins marketing attractive holiday packages to coincide with ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ air ticket offer from SriLankan Airlines

By Charumini de Silva

In a bid to woo more tourists amidst challenging times for the leisure holiday market, Sri Lanka will roll out what is likely to be the biggest joint industry promotional effort from mid next month.

The flagship initiative is the ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ air ticket offer by SriLankan Airlines whilst 91 hotels in Colombo and outside are supporting the initiative with special holiday packages.

The travel trade has already begun marketing the offers made by the hotels and resorts whilst SriLankan Airlines is gearing to make its tempting proposition available in 17 destinations where it currently operates to.

Present travel restrictions or conditions imposed to and from Sri Lanka by over 20 countries remain a challenge for the initiative, but the tourism industry is confident that with rapid vaccination, travel advisories will improve. The Government is also resolving issues through bilateral diplomatic channels.  

The promotion is jointly coordinated by the Sri Lanka Tourism and SriLankan Airlines in partnership with the travel and hotel industries.

“Keeping in line with the proposal made by the Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators Association (SLAITO) and ‘One Industry – One Voice’ partners have drawn several packages to promote Sri Lanka in August, September and October,” SLAITO Spokesman told the Daily FT.

In addition to the National Carrier, SLAITO said other airlines operating to Colombo would also be offering special fares during the three-month period.

Prospective tourists have the option of selecting from seven packages ranging minimum of three nights to maximum of seven nights. For example, a three-night package cost will range from $ 227-$ 272 per person sharing depending on the class of accommodation. The seven-night package cost will range from $ 403- $ 508 per person sharing.

The trip includes beach holidays and nine other tourist attractions, including Kandy Temple of the Tooth Relic, Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Sigiriya rock fortress, Dambulla cave temple, Minneriya National Park, Yala National Park, Polonnaruwa cultural site and Kosgoda turtle hatchery. 

In addition, meetings with the Veddah community — the indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka, witnessing the process of Ceylon Tea at a plantation and tea factory and shopping in Colombo has been included in some of the packages.

The package prices include half board accommodation on double sharing basis at selected hotels, accommodation on ‘Level 1 – Safe & Secure’ hotel on first day, transfers by air-conditioned vehicles with English speaking chauffeur/guide services as per Government health and safety protocols, mandatory PCR test on day 1, local COVID-19 Insurance cover, expressway and parking charges and all applicable local taxes.

However, the prices doesn’t include the exit PCR test as per the requirement of the final destination/returning country or the airline, optional sightseeing, entrance fees to places of interest (given separately as optional), expenses of a personal nature/incidental expenses, lunch and beverages throughout the tour, visa charges and other services.

Tourist arrivals in the first six months reached 16,808, a welcome development since the reopening of borders on 21 January but down by 97% from last year’s first half.

In June, tourist arrivals increased by 7% to 1,614 from May, despite the travel restrictions in place as a result of the ongoing third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Europe was the largest source region with 11,916 travellers of the total traffic received in the first half of the year, whilst Asia and Pacific and the Americas accounted for 3,254 and 1,334 tourists respectively.

Airlines can fly in any number of fully vaccinated passengers