The Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi organized a “Roundtable interactive meeting” without bound tour and travel companies in New Delhi, at the High Commission premises on 14th November 2018. The main focus of the Roundtable interactive meeting was to brief the prevailing situation in Sri Lanka related to travel and tourism industry.
At the meeting High Commissioner Austin Fernando welcomed representatives from the Indian Outbound Travel and Tour industry based in New Delhi and briefed them on the current situation in Sri Lanka. He highlighted the peaceful atmosphere that continues to prevail in Sri Lanka, despite the current internal political status and encouraged the Indian Outbound Travel Industry's active business engagement with Sri Lanka.
The High Commissioner noted, that India has emerged as one of the leading partners of tourism to Sri Lanka with a total number of 385,000 arrivals, that is around 18% per cent of the total traffic in 2017, and emphasized the tremendous potential to increase the numbers, given the size of the Indian travel market and interest of the Indian tourist to visit Sri Lanka. Among potential sectors he highlighted the Ramayana Trial in Sri Lanka that has much potential to be promoted in India. The travel industry's representatives made suggestions to enhance business between the two countries.
In conclusion, High Commissioner welcomed proposals from the Indian Outbound Travel Industry to further develop and expand business ties between the two countries. The representatives assured the High Commissioner that they would submit their proposals before the end of 2018, and appreciated the initiative taken by the High Commission.
Senior representatives from the Travel Agents Association, Travel Agents Federation, Indian Association of Tour Operators, Outbound Tour Operators Association and the Sri Lankan Airlines were present at the Roundtable discussion.
