SIC tours for tourists

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The World Travel Centre (WTC) last week introduced a novel travel program 'Seat-in-Coach tour' (SIC tours) for foreign travellers who are holidaying in Sri Lanka.

WTC, CEO/ Managing Director, Sudharma de Silva addressing the media Pix. by- Saliya Rupasinghe

According to WTC, the travel program will help tourists, their families and also tour groups to travel to any place of interest in Sri Lanka in comfortable luxury coaches .

They will also be provided with starclass hotel accommodations.

Speaking at a media briefing, WTC, CEO/ Managing Director, Sudharma de Silva thanked the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism (ASMET) for their assistance extended towards this program.

He said compared to regular private tours, this novel WTC program will help foreign tourists to travel to various destinations in the country at affordable rates.

One-day and multi-day tours will be operated from Colombo to tourist attraction spots in the country such as Kandy, Galle, Kitulgala, Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Nuwara Eliya, Pinnawala and Bentota.

Each tour is designed to offer travellers the best balance between travel, leisure, sightseeing and the environment. The tours are escorted by professional guides and experienced drivers.

WTC said this nature of `Seat-in-Coach Tours' are also available in popular worldwide tourist destinations in India, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

Tourism Development Authority, Acting Director General, Vipula Wanigasekara said the Government expects over a million foreign tourists during the next few years.

"Therefore, steps have been taken to create more tourist attraction spots for the benefit of increasing the number of tourists.

Pradeshiya sabhas and Provincial Councils elsewhere have also been directed to locate tourist attraction places in their respective areas."

The Sri Lanka Inbound Association of Tourist Organisation (SLITO), President, Nilmin Nanayakkara said that tourism industry has achieved significant progress during the past three years and with the beginning of this new era local tourism industry has shifted its path to an `expressway' towards the future.

"Therefore, in addition to services such as `Seat -in- Coach tours', many other tourist promotion services such as air taxies, luxury trains and caravans will have to be introduced to the industry."

He also said the SIC Tours would help Sri Lanka to reach the targets of handling millions of tourists in the coming years.