The Gulf region’s largest travel and aviation event, Arabian Travel Mart (ATM) now in its 30th edition concluded on Thursday with Sri Lanka Pavilion having brick business.
This year Sri Lanka’s first private airline Fits Air also took a stand at the ATM along with Sri Lanka and Cinnamon Hotels having their own areas as well.
At the Sri Lanka media conference on day two, Minister Harin Fernando said that Sri Lanka is a value for money destination and most importantly that it is safe and is very much back to its past glory.
“We must thank President Ranil Wickremesinghe for uplifting Sri Lanka from an almost ruined state to its original position and we can boldly say that Sri Lanka is back in business.”
He said that Emirates Airline has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, reaffirming its support to the country’s tourism and trade industries. “These are all positive signs that Sri Lanka Tourism has rebounded.”
Director, Marketing of Sri Lanka Tourism, Dushan Wickramasuriya said that a series of promotions have been conducted in the Gulf and its positive results would be seen in the first quarter of next year.
“For the fourth month in succession the number of tourist arrivals averaged over 100,000 last month attracting 105,498, a 67% increase as against April 2022. The number of arrivals for the first four months now stands at 441,177.