Jack Ma’s Alibaba and Supreme Global Holdings to promote Sri Lanka Tourism in China
Supreme Global Holdings along with Alibaba Group owned “Alitrip” – now called “Fliggy” – has launched the “Sri Lanka Pavilion” in “Fliggy’s tourism platform with the target of bringing a million new tourists to Sri Lanka every year.
The initiative was reportedly launched in Beijing on Tuesday.
Alibaba, setting new standards in its globalization moves also launched an “online visa center” for Sri Lanka establishing ease of travel, reports state.
The Company in a statement has said the move will allow Chinese consumers to stay at home and use their smart phones to apply for their visas.
Both Alibaba and Supreme will work closely with Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau on the project implementation, which is expected to result in positive impact on Sri Lanka’s tourism.
The ultimate goal of the partnership is to secure a major share of the 137 million Chinese tourists who travel overseas every year.
A notable feature of this very potential market is their habit of making payments using “Alipay”. Supreme Global intends to promote “Alipay” actively in Sri Lanka upon receiving the necessary clearances eliminating this barrier thus taking Sri Lanka Tourism to new heights.
As part of Alibaba Group, “Fliggy” has access to more than 500 million mobile monthly active users on Alibaba’s China retail marketplaces.
This means that by partnering with Alibaba Sri Lanka can gain valuable insights into the Chinese market, with massive access to better customize Sri Lanka’s tourism products and services for Chinese tourists.
Chairman of Supreme Global Holdings, M. Manivannan has been quoted in the media as saying that this is one way Sri Lanka can develop high value added tourism, matching customer needs to services on offer on an individual case by case basis and link that to the specialist hotels that cater for a wide range of interest.
Vice President of “Fliggy,” Zhou Zheng has said, “Belt and Road countries have strong potential for tourism, and the Chinese people’s tendency to go to the Belt and Road countries has been significantly enhanced in the past three years.
“Those traditional niche tourist destinations along the Belt and Road are also beginning to welcome more Chinese people and the Belt and Road countries are attractive to young consumers. Over 51 percent of “Fliggy” users are born after 1990, the online visa to travel all the way to speed up will bring the Belt and Road countries closer to Chinese consumers.”
OSL take:
The joint venture launched by Supreme Global Holdings and Alibaba would result in a marked increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Sri Lanka annually. This is the best opportunity for investors looking at entering the Chinese market to set up operations in Sri Lanka as a launching pad. On the other hand, other local as well as foreign service providers could look at forming joint ventures similar to that of Supreme Global Holdings and Alibaba to promote tourism in Sri Lanka and other business ventures as well.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20180205/Z_2 |