More tourist arrivals in March:

IIFA puts Lanka on tourism map

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

The number of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka has increased by over 50 percent in March this year against the corresponding period of last year.

Over 34,000 tourists visited Sri Lanka in March 2009. The figure stood at 52,352 at the end of last month, a 53.7 percent increase.

Once again, Indian tourists took the top slot with 8,607 visiting Sri Lanka, with tourists from the United Kingdom (8,559) and Germany (5,305) following. With the increase in operations of the low cost carrier, Air Asia, arrivals from Malaysia to saw a healthy increase.

Arrivals saw a 67.7 percent increase last February with 57,300 tourists visiting Sri Lanka during the tail-end of the tourist season. Tourist arrivals for January 2010 stood at 50,757 which is a 31 percent increase from that of January 2009.

Director General Marketing, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Dilip Mudadeniya said that this healthy trend would continue in the future too. "This positive sentiment is due to peace and the removal of travel advisories and we expect this healthy trend to continue," he said.

Commenting on the suspension of flights in Europe due to the Iceland volcano incident, he said that it would not have a major negative impact on the industry. "It would only be a temporary setback," he said.

Mudadeniya also said that the hosting of the IIFA Awards in 2010 in Colombo too would boost Sri Lankan tourism. "This is a very rare and wonderful opportunity for Sri Lanka. Thanks to the prevailing peace, Sri Lanka has received international recognition," he said.

IIFA 2010 is the largest annual event of Bollywood cinema and the country would get over Rs. 20 million worth of free publicity from this event and it is very encouraging," he said. Celebrities expected to attend, include the famous Indian acting dynasty the Bachchans, former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and many other famed personalities.

In addition to the famed Indian film fraternity and their families many other celebrities and visitors from India will grace this occasion hosted in June. "All the star hotels in the City would be booked for the event generating revenue for the industry," he said.

Meanwhile Shehan Semasinghe, the newly elected parliamentarian from Anuradhapura said that with peace and a stable government in place the industry could easily move to the top spot of foreign exchange generation.

The son of former Tourism Minister, H. B. Semasinghe he said that best times of tourism is yet to come. The former Director Sales of Taj Exotica hotel he said that tourism would be one of the first industries to reap benefits of peace and stability.

He said that he took to politics not because people told him to do so but because he had a vision to develop Anuradhapura district. "Politics is also in our blood," he said

He said that though Anuradhapura is one of the top destinations in tourism the infrastructure has to improve. "Public toilets, public transport and road development and signs are some of the key areas that have to improve," he said.

Sri Lanka has made the 2011, 'Visit Sri Lanka Year'. President Mahinda Rajapaksa wants to attract 2.5 million tourists in 2016. Anuradhapura also needs domestic air flights as the future high spending tourists would want to get faster from one point to another and flying would be their best option.

The projects for 'Visit Sri Lanka 2011' includes a big PR campaign, which will be launched in 2010 to encourage and entice tourists to visit Sri Lanka in the year 2011. In addition a wide range of spectacular events are planned, along with the Sri Lanka Tourism's burgeoning list of successful annual events.

It is the first time that Sri Lanka Tourism is launching a comprehensive and well researched destination promotion campaign through some of the leading media channels of the world.

Shehan who holds a BA hons from New Delhi on Tourism and MBA on the same subject from the Peradeniya University said that with the project tourism boom, Anuradhapura would need more quality rooms and this is something investors should look at. This will bring in more revenue and it will help the small and medium enterprise sector as well.

He said the international public was also concerned about the election in Sri Lanka and the peaceful manner in which it was conducted have come in for high praise by them.

The Kalpitiya tourism promotion zone too would add value to Sri Lanka as a high spending destination.

"The opening of the Wilpattu Park too would increase local tourism potential," he said.

The upbeat in the tourism sector was also seen in the stock exchange with shares rising on the anticipation of a post-war tourism expansion.Hotelier Vindyani Hettigoda, who was in Rome during the suspension of flights due to volcanic activity, said that they had to face tremendous hardships over that period.

"Hotel owners increased their prices by almost 50 percent while land transport was not available due to the high demand," she said. Long queues were seen for both buses and trains while taxies and 'Rent A Car'services were virtually not available due to the high demand from tourists.