The Hindu Business Line : Sri Lanka, Nepal to focus on wooing more Indian travellers

DESPITE the political and natural upheavals affecting tourist destinations in South Asia, they continue to attract the Indian visitor. The tsunami disaster that hit Sri Lanka in December did not affect the appetite of Indians wanting to visit the island nation. The island hopes to see around 1,30,000 Indians visiting Sri Lanka during the year up from about 1,00,000 last year.

Similarly, Nepal that has been affected by political turmoil in the recent past has already seen more than 13,000 Indians arriving till March-end. The Nepalese Tourism sources indicated that the number of Indian tourist arrivals during the year would be around the same as last year of about 1,00,000. The airlines from Nepal have also launched limited time attractive lower rate packages to woo Indian travellers.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan authorities are moving to attract other sections of the Indian market to the island. The Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism, Mr Udaya Nanayakkara, told Business Line that the Tourism Board would now look at attracting the upper end of the Indian middle class.

"At present we are focussing on the middle class people visiting Sri Lanka. We will now start focussing on attracting people from the upper end of the middle class to visit our country. We are moving upwards while keeping the Sri Lankan product alive at other levels also," Mr Nanayakkara said. Sri Lankan officials are hopeful that at least 10 per cent of the Indian tourist arrivals will be from the upper end of the middle class.

The Tourism Board is to start a pan-regional electronic campaign from mid-May to attract more visitors. At present a study is being conducted to understand the Indian market before the campaign is also launched in India, officials said.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
`BPO industry must re-brand itself'

Fertiliser scam of 1995 — Govt recovers just Rs 1 cr against Rs 246.47 cr

ICAI plans to bring out model VAT audit report

Traders' body releases VAT rate chart for States to highlight variations

`Biotech industry needs to address regulation, funding issues'

Bioinformatics Institute launches corporate training kit

Despite rising costs, paint sector may post 5-15 pc topline growth

Kamal Nath hints at `hire and fire' in special economic zones

`To survive longer, cos need to be adaptive'

Ayurveda manufacturers wary of Food Bill

Sri Lanka, Nepal to focus on wooing more Indian travellers

New Chairman for CII-Southern Region