Surge in Arab tourists to Sri Lanka Monday, 19 July 2010 01:47

Sri Lankan Tourism Promotion Bureau’s (SLTPB) Middle East office has recently reported an enormous surge in Arab travellers to the Asian country.

The office said Middle East tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose an unprecedented 102 percent in the first six months of 2010, compared with the corresponding period last year.

“Regardless of apprehensions of an unsteady global economy, the Middle East’s discerning travellers are spending time and money on travel and Sri Lanka has been one of the preferred destinations with a meteoric rise in tourists during the first half of 2010,” said Heba Al Mansoori, the Middle East director for SLTPB. “We’ve just closed in on the results of the first six months of 2010 and we’re 102 percent up, compared to the corresponding period last year,” she added.

She said while 2009 saw the beginning of the recovery process, with the end of three decades of war, the rebound has been robust and rapid and the recovery is being driven by the Middle East with strong growth from key markets including the UAE (up by 209 percent), Saudi Arabia (up by 96 percent), and Kuwait (up by 50 percent).

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry seems to be resilient, while the government spares no effort to revitalise the tourism industry as it considers tourism to have a key role to play in the country’s economic recovery and stability.

“Our outlook remains positive for the rest of the year as we’ve successfully built a relationship of trust with both regional consumers and the travel trade,” Al Mansoori said. “We’ll continue to reap benefits with this gradually improving economic situation,” she added.

Commenting on SLTPB’s Middle East marketing drive, Al Mansoori said she and her team had to adapt to the changing needs of consumers and capitalise on trends such as late booking, and the internet to strengthen Sri Lanka’s presence.

She noted that in the Middle East in particular, travellers tend to travel closer for shorter periods of time and demand value for money. SLTPB opened its office in Dubai in May 2008 to maximise the opportunities emerging throughout the Middle East while strengthening support for the travel trade in the region.

THE PENINSULA