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| 27/02/2008 - Daily Mirror | |||
| Promotional push, special air fare deals to lure Arabian traveller | |||
| (by Sherwani Synon) | |||
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(Photo – Minister for Tourism, Milinda Morgoda and Deputy Minister for Tourism, Faiszer Musthapha discuss with a guest at the launch of the partnership with Al Jazeera network) |
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Special air fares together with a promotional push via Al Jazeera was launched yesterday in a bid to lure the current 13,000 Arabian travellers. The Middle Eastern market has had a positive growth of 30% over the years and with the launch of this advertising campaign, the Sri Lankan Tourism Board together with Sri Lankan Airlines hopes to increase the number of visitors to the country this year. With an investment worth US$250,000, the campaign will commence from March 15 and will consist of 100 commercial slots on the Al Jazeera network. Sharing his views at the launch, Deputy Minister for Tourism, Faiszer Musthapha said that with a collective effort they can achieve more tourist arrivals. “If there is a collective effort we can increase the number of the Middle East market as there is potential in that particular market,” he said. Sri Lankan Airlines has also taken initiatives to introduce a series of special airfares when travelling to Sri Lanka and is also offering passengers between Middle East and India a special stop over holiday package. “The response from Middle East leisure travellers to our subtle promotional initiatives over the past two years has been very encouraging and we have seen a steady increase in the number of holidaymakers to Sri Lanka,” stated the Sri Lankan Airlines’ Regional Manager for the Middle East, Mohammed Fazeel. The ‘Island Breakers’, an offer from Sri Lankan Holidays the airline’s leisure division, includes airfare, star class hotel accommodation which starts at US$398 per person for two nights and three days.According to the Managing Director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotional Bureau, Dileep Mudadeniya, the outbound market of the Middle Eastern region is estimated at USD42 billion and has a potential growth of USD93 billion in 10 year’s time and has the world’s highest per capita income of which 80% of travelling is done for pleasure. |
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