Sri Lanka is to attract more Indian tourists considering its closest neighbour as an important source market The island nation has been a favourite with Indian tourists due to affordability and access.
Sri Lanka has identified India as an important source market for tourism, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said adding that in 2021, Indians topped tourist arrivals with over 56,000 visitors.
8678 Indian tourists arrived in the island last month out of the total number of travelers of 40560 and the majority of tourists were reported from the UK with 11,539 arrivals, while from Germany, it was 6,088 tourists, and from France, it was 4,038.
he interest for exploring new places, the rise in purchasing power, availability of direct and low fare international flights are the key drivers for the growth of the Indian travel segment.
Sri Lanka plays a crucial role here as the destination is the No.3 most talked about ‘tropical south east Asian’ travel destination.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said that 98% of trips to Sri Lanka were for leisure purposes, mostly visited for wildlife and beaches.
As another result of its continuous effort of promoting Sri Lanka as a potential Tourism destination, Sri Lanka Tourism participated at the SATTE Travel Fair which was held in Greater Noida, Delhi-NCR, India, from 18th – 20th May, 2022, with 65 Sri Lankan travel and tourism companies.
Sri Lanka’s participation was successful for the destination in this year’s SATTE , for it was a collaborative effort of High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi, together with Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and 65 travel industry members including SriLankan Airlines, representing Sri Lanka at SATTE 2022, since India is a major source market for Sri Lanka Tourism.
SATTE offers a comprehensive platform to domestic and international buyers and professionals from across the travel, tourism and hospitality industry along with national and State Tourism Boards.
SATTE is recognized as Asia’s leading travel and tourism exhibition to conduct business, share knowledge, exchange ideas in order to arrive at solution-driven innovations to accelerate the pace of the growth of the industry.
SATTE has grown in terms of exhibitions and visitors (including international and domestic buyers) and is today the biggest networking forum for the travel and tourism industry in South Asia.
SATTE is an exceptional trade event which is well-supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India National and International Tourism Boards, Indian and International travel and trade associations and organizations amongst others. 1,200+ exhibitors, 35,000+ trade visitors, 800+ VIPs & delegates, 26 State Tourism Boards from 50+ countries attended SATTE 2022.
India has been identified as one of the fastest growing outbound markets in the world. The UNWTO has ranked India as one of the fastest growing outbound markets in the world with the volume of travellers going up by 25% every year.MICE, Incentive, Casino, Wedding and honeymoon, Leisure, Youth, Golf Tours, Ramayanaya, Buddhist pilgrim tours, etc. are the main products Sri Lanka can offer for Indians all year round
