Sri Lanka Tourism can be easily converted to a Rs.10 billion industry in less than two years, Ambassador for Sri Lanka in Germany, Karunatilleke Amunugama said.
Speaking to Daily News Business at the ITB Travel Fair here, he said the German travel agents as well as the German Government are keen to help Sri Lanka to achieve higher targets in tourism arrivals.
‘‘This is the reason that three members from representing the German Parliament were present at the opening ceremony of the Sri Lanka Stand on day one.
Meanwhile, SriLankan Airlines’ Europe Sales Head Manoj Gunawardane said that though Sri Lankan pulled out from Rome, Frankfurt and Paris they still market the airline.
‘‘We still get 20% of the previous market and our aim is to increase if further,’’ he said.
He said that they now have agreements with several European airlines that fly European passengers to Gulf destinations from where they are being connected to SriLankan which has a strong presence.
He also said that the airline is not paying for the slot they occupied in these three destinations. ‘‘But as and when the performance increases we will be able to get slots back at these three destinations.”
He also said that what the airline now has to do was to concentrate heavily on London which is the only connections to Europe, the national carrier has.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka Tourism’s Additional Marketing Director Dushan Wickramasuriya said they hope to attract over 120 top travel journalists to Sri Lanka this year.”We met them at the recently concluded IMM Journalists event on Tuesday in Berlin and invited them to visit Sri Lanka and do news items and documentaries on Sri Lanka,”he said.
Sri Lankan Tourism’s marketing budget will spend for them as the mileage we get from them is unmatched.’’
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