Several new Chinese airlines to touch Sri Lanka from April

Several new Chinese airlines will start flying to Sri Lanka from April, Chairman Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chalaka Gajabahu said.

He said that Sri Lanka is now open for Chinese tourists and already SriLankan airlines have recommended flights. “We expect new Chinese airlines to operate flights to Sri Lanka from April this year which will help to increase Chinese arrivals,” he said during the sidelines of the launch of Sancharaka Udawa which will be held on May 19 to 20 at BMICH. He said that they will also soon launch the destination marketing campaign and look at a new tag line to replace ‘So Sri Lanka.’ “But this time we will make sure to keep it permanent for some time rather than changing it frequently.”

He said that they have identified 9 key markets like India, Australia, Russia and Europe for this campaign due to limited budgets. “In addition we will also host many FAM tours and bring in influencers to market Sri Lanka as a destination.”

Meanwhile this year the Sancharaka Udawa will have foreign embassies and foreign stalls as well.

“For the first time we want to allow the local public to use it as a platform to book local and foreign packages as well,” said SLAITO President Nishad Wijetunga. He also said that this year the tourism industry will pick up and have attractive numbers by the end of the year.

“However these figures will still fall short of the number of best years of tourism before the COVID pandemic and Easter Sunday Blasts.

This year too the event is hosted by the Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.