Dubai: The Gulf Tourism market for Sri Lanka will make a comeback to its previous best by 2024 April said Sri Lanka Tourism Director Marketing Dushan Wickramasuriya.
Speaking to Daily News Business at the opening ceremony of the 30th Editor of the Arabian Travel Mart he said that the Gulf market had over 75,000 arrivals in 2018 before the Easter Sunday attack and the economic collapse that followed. He said that out of this number, almost half of the arrivals were from Saudi Arabia and this trend continues.
He said that Sri Lanka Tourism has identified 9 key markets for promotions and the Middle East too has been included in it. In addition, several social media Campaigns too have been organised to promote Sri Lanka in the region.”
Wickramasuriya said that while Middle Eastern travellers are high spenders, they also spend around 8 days in boutique or luxury hotels which makes them a high-yielding market.
“Though we may not have a good number of arrivals from the Gulf this year we hope that with the marketing campaigns we have launched and the promotions done at the Arabian Travel Market, we could reach the 2018 figure in 2024 April and better it during the second half of next year.”
Sri Lanka will host their Press conference tomorrow with Tourism Minister Harin Fernando attending it.
The Sri Lanka Ambassador for USE Udaya Indraratne who was the Chief Guest at the opening ceremony said that the negative perception of Sri Lanka is now changing and this is a factor the travel sector must capitalise on. “Sri Lanka generated a huge volume of negative publicity in the last part of 20222 and now this perception has changed and people are now travelling to Sri Lanka.”
The region’s leading travel expo, opened its doors today (May 1) in Dubai drawing some of the biggest players in the global travel, tourism, and hospitality sector as well as over 2,000 exhibitors and representatives from more than 150 countries.
Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “ATM 2023 will provide a platform for a diverse array of public and private-sector speakers, all of whom will offer expert insights into sustainable travel trends, responsible tourism and a host of other industry-critical issues.”
The milestone event, which will run from Monday, 1 to Thursday, 4 May, will see global travel, tourism, and hospitality experts come together to explore how their industry is ‘Working Towards Net Zero’. Exhibitor participation in ATM 2023 has risen by 27% compared to last year’s event, with growth registered across all show sectors.
Daily News
