Travel to Sri Lanka has gone up among Bengalureans due to Ram Temple in Ayodhya
Daily FT: Travel to Sri Lanka has gone up among Bengalureans because of the buzz around the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a travel company told Metrolife.
Metrolife asked experts which destinations are trending among Bengalureans. Vietnam and Turkey have become sought-after countries in the past one year while countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore continue to remain favourites.
In the last 3 to 4 months, Nesara Tours, Nagarbhavi, has received many enquiries for the Ramayana trail in Sri Lanka. “It covers areas like Nuwara Eliya, Jaffna, Colombo, and Yala National Park in Sri Lanka,” says Karthik Marathe, partner of the tour operator company.
Sonana Travel World, Nagarathpete partner Mahipal Singh has observed a surge in bookings for Turkey, Dubai, Hong Kong and various places in China. Istanbul, Cappadocia, and Antalya are the most visited spots in Turkey.
Explaining the lure of Turkey, Mahipal says, “Turkey offers a mixed vibe of Europe and Asia. Since getting a visa for European countries has been tough in the last few months, people are flocking to Turkey.” Bangkok and Pattaya in Thailand have long been a fixture on the itineraries of Indians. Now people are looking for newer shores like Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai, and Langkawi in Malaysia, says Shamanth Krishnamurthy, proprietor of Sanman Travels, Majestic. Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Seychelles are other destinations in demand, he observes.
Thailand remains a popular choice for its easy visa-on-arrival feature, nightlife and beaches. Vietnam is also seeing a lot of bookings. “The visa procedures to Vietnam are easy and it has not been explored much by Indians,” says Mahipal.
Nesara also gets a lot of bookings for Bali and Vietnam. “These are cheaper travel options currently. Also, these places are close to nature and have beaches. March is a good season to travel there,” adds Karthik.
Thailand and Malaysia are top picks at Sanman Travels because they are “affordable”, reasons Shamanth.
According to Wilson Garden-located Holiday Concierge Executive Director Rajiv Mehrotra, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Dubai, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan have stayed top choices among Bengalureans since 2022. “Other picks are Christian pilgrimages in Europe that cover around 45 churches spread across nine countries such as Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands,” Rajiv says.
OSL take:
Indian tourists are currently among the top five foreign visitors to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka and India enjoy strong bilateral, trade and historical ties. The cultural and historical ties have now resulted in the promotion of tourism between Sri Lanka and India. The steady growth in Sri Lanka’s overall tourism industry has resulted in the expansion of business/investment opportunities in the industry, especially in the leisure and hospitality sectors. There’s also a growth in the development of infrastructure facilities and supplementary infrastructure facilities required by the tourism industry to meet the growing demand. The growth and business potential in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has attracted many international leisure and hospitality brands to the country. All these are indicative of the growing business potential in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. Indian leisure and hospitality sector businesses could also look at exploring the expanding opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20240209/Z_2 |