The out-of-the-box plan to attract a fraction of the FIFA World Cup 2022 fan base to Sri Lanka will materialize, as key Gulf Airlines have committed to support the initiative, Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said.
Noting that Flydubai and Qatar Airways have agreed in principle to support the initiative with increased frequencies, he said the final plan will be announced by next week.
“Given the support we have received so far from all stakeholders, I am confident that the initiative will be successful,” Minister Fernando told the Daily FT.
Over 1.2 million football fans from around the world are expected to attend the FIFA World Cup 2022 from 20 November to 18 December. However, accommodation in Qatar has soared with increased demand for the 40,000 total room capacity.
The collective effort of Sri Lanka Tourism is to capitalize on the proximity, affordability, air connectivity and entertainment culture to seize a fraction of the visitors during the four to five-day break between the matches.
“Flydubai has assured support to the promotional packages discussed to attract global football fans to Sri Lanka. We are capitalizing on the codeshare partnership SriLankan Airlines has with Qatar Airways to get a higher frequency during the FIFA World Cup season. A final package on the initiative will be made available by next week,” he said.
With over 1,300 rooms within Negombo, Minister Fernando said all hotels and other stakeholders have stepped up their efforts to set up a FIFA Zone to accommodate and entertain the visitors from the third week of November to the end of December.
As per the Minister tour operators have already created packages for four days and three nights starting from $ 235 per person-sharing doubles to over $ 330 depending on the star classification of hotels.
“We have discussed modalities of this initiative at the recent meeting with the Tourism Committee to review the progress of the initiative and then announce the outcome by next week,” Fernando added.
This is the first Football World Cup ever to be held in the Gulf region and the second World Cup to be held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.
