Sri Lanka Tourism has come to an agreement with one of the world’s leading budget hotel booking engines, ‘Airbnb’ to collect an incentive for their business in Sri Lanka.
Speaking to Daily News at the (Pacific Asia Travel Association) PATA conference in Negombo Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Paddy Withana said that ‘Airbnb’ has now agreed to pay a commission for their bookings made in Sri Lanka trough their search engine. “This is a welcome move.”
Asked if a similar incentive would come to Sri Lanka through the taxi booking engine, ‘Uber’ he answered in the negative.
“However we must take in to account that through Uber a significant number of employment opportunities have been created and this helps the economy in some way.”
With the development of technology, it is unlikely that the future tourist will follow the traditional travel methods. With easy access to social media and budget travel tools like Airbnb, Couchsurfing, Skyscanner, and Lonely Planet message boards, travelling is made easier and faster,” said Andrew Jones, Chairman PATA.
“The young generation likes to try out new ideas, innovations and concepts, which suit their dynamic lifestyle.
“The changes which tourism will go through will create an important impact on them which they will apply for their benefit.”
“Tourism administrators must try to focus their campaigns to target these new trends and move away from traditional marketing trends.” he said. (SS)
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