Lankan firm partners big Chinese travel agency to bring additional tourists
Tourism Minister expects minimum 200,000 additional Chinese tourists within next 12 months China to become top source market replacing India by year end
Green Leaves Leisure (Pvt) Ltd., a subsidiary of Green Leaves Group, yesterday guaranteed to bring 16,000 additional Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka monthly for the next 10 years commencing this May, with the aim of making China the largest source market for the Sri Lankan
tourism industry by year end.
Addressing a press conference organised by the Tourism and Christian Affairs Ministry, Green Leaves Group Chairman Harindra Rodrigo announced that Green Leaves Leisure has signed an agreement with Chinese based Yingke Travels, a subsidiary of Vanta Field Industrial Shanghai Co. Ltd., to bring an additional 10,000 Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka for 10 years commencing May, 2018.
Speaking to Mirror Business, Rodrigo revealed that Green Leaves will also sign another 10-year agreement with another top Chinese tour agency bring 6000 more Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka every month.
Tourism and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga is confident that the partnership between Green Leaves Leisure (Pvt.) Ltd and Yingke Travels, will help to bring at least 200,000 additional Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka in the short-term.
Amaratunga also revealed that two Chinese mass weddings would be held in Colombo in September and November for 100 Chinese couples.
Green Leaves Group also plans to launch a luxury boat service from Waters Edge to Negombo connecting Kelaniya River and Haimltion Canal, targeting highend tourists. The Group has also recently launched a 450-seater theatre at the Waters Edge offering high quality cultural shows for tourists.
According to Vanta Field Industrial Shanghai Co. Ltd. Vice General Manager, Haifeng Yuan, Yingke Travels currently maintain 12,000 tour agencies across China and has 20 subsidiaries in overseas.
Yuan noted that Yingke Travels will carry out a large promotional campaign on China Central Television (CCTV) which is accessible to over billion viewers and other media outlets to promote Sri Lanka as a highquality destination for Chinese tourists.
Amaratunga emphasised that as the rupee has depreciated against the U.S. dollar significantly this year, foreign exchange earnings has become even more important for a stable rupee.
Speaking of opportunities for the Sri Lankan tourism industry to attract Chinese tourists, the minister pointed out that as the Chinese government issued travel warnings to the Maldives, which attracts 1.5 million Chinese tourists, Sri Lanka has the potential to attract a large portion of the 1.5 million Chinese tourists who visit the Maldives every year.
According to Yuan, around 50,000 Chinese tourists have visited Sri Lanka through Yingke Travels during the last 5 years. He asserted that Yingke Travel could easily meet the guaranteed Chinese tourist arrivals targets through their 12,000 tour offices and the promotion drive on CCTV and other media.