SL Tourism to enter India by Sept
The tourism board has recently launched ‘Get Sri Lankaned’ campaign. This year, the country targets to welcome 2,00,000 Indians and by 2016 the aim is to receive 4,00,000 Indian footfalls. gives details...
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India being the biggest tourist source market, Sri Lanka has finally decided to have a presence in India by opening its office in Mumbai by September this year. Last year, the country catered to 1,70,000 Indians, this year it targets to welcome 2,00,000 Indians and by 2016 the aim is to receive 4,00,000 Indian footfalls. To achieve this target, the tourism board has allocated a marketing budget of close to seven million Sri Lankan rupiah for India. This year, it has launched ‘Get Sri Lankaned’ campaign in India and is reaching out to end-consumers through interactive events and activities in multiple Indian cities. On the B2B level, the tourism board has introduced a programme for travel agents where they can register for free and receive a familiarisation trip to understand the destination better.
By opening a branch office in India, we would be more accessible to both travel agents and travellers
Talking about the Indian market, Bhashwara Senanka Gunarathna, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority & Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, said, “For India, we are working on a multi-prolonged strategy. Our first step is to underline Sri Lanka as a tourist destination by high- lighting our unique offerings. Our next step is to educate travel agents, and later promote the destination through experts for both MICE and leisure segment. By opening a branch office in India, we would be more accessible to both travel agents and trav- ellers. India is currently our top tourism source market and we are working hard to tap the maximum potential from this country.”
The country offers online visa facility for tourists and business travellers wherein the visa is issued within 24 hours. There is also a Visa- on-Arrival facility for Indian citizens, which is charged US$5 extra over US$10 for the online tourist visa and US$ 15 for a business visa.