Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister confirms Qatar Airways’ increase in flights during FIFA World Cup.
Daily FT: Qatar Airways will increase its flight frequency to Colombo during the FIFA World Cup 2022, to woo visitors to Sri Lanka during non-match days, Tourism Minister Harin Fernando has confirmed.
Taking to Twitter, he thanked Qatar Airways for extending support to Sri Lanka’s out-of-the-box efforts to boost arrivals by attracting a fraction of the FIFA World Cup 2022 football fans.
Qatar Airways is also the FIFA World Cup 2022 official airline partner.
In addition, Flydubai has also assured support to the promotional packages Sri Lanka Tourism is working on.
Sri Lanka Tourism is ramping up efforts to capture a sizable fraction of the over 1.2 million football fans who will attend the World Cup matches from 20 November to 18 December, in its ‘FIFA Zone’ in Negombo.
“Qatar has only 40,000 rooms and the prices of the accommodation facilities have soared with the high demand. Thus, Sri Lanka has a great opportunity to capture a fraction of those football fans during the four to five-day break between matches. The plan is most viable because of the air connectivity, affordability and entertainment freedom in Sri Lanka,” he said at a recent media briefing.
Sri Lanka was also featured in an event held in Doha, Qatar this week coinciding with the FIFA World Cup 2022. The Minister Fernando extended his appreciation to the High Commission for the efforts taken to feature Sri Lanka.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities are looking at promoting the country’s tourism industry on the sidelines of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Local tourism authorities have been engaged in promotional campaigns in key tourist source markets to woo tourists to Sri Lanka. There has been a steady growth in tourist arrivals to the country indicating a return to normalcy after facing the pandemic challenges. Sri Lanka has also received exposure in the international media as a must visit tourist destination as well as one of the top 10 island destinations. It is in such a backdrop that Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities are looking at wooing football World Cup fans to the island. Given the strength of the US dollar in Sri Lanka, the island presents a value deal for foreign travellers looking for a holiday on the sidelines of the World Cup in Qatar. It is evident that Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is on a growth path and there’s an expansion in the business/investment opportunities in the industry, especially in the leisure and hospitality sectors. Many international leisure and hospitality brands have expressed interest in entering Sri Lanka given the business potential in the tourism industry. Foreign businesses could also look at the opportunities in setting up supplementary infrastructure facilities in the tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/26102022/X_4 |