Revival of the UK travel market
View(s):Travellers from the UK, one of the worst hit markets for Sri Lanka, is seeing a revival with an 18 per cent surge in the first quarter of the year with the overall outbound European market also showing signs of a recovery, industry officials said.
Comparatively in the same 2012 quarter arrivals from UK, a few years ago the largest source of tourists for Sri Lanka until being upstaged by India, showed a marginal 3.4 per cent rise while arrivals for the whole of 2012 rose by 7.7 per cent.
“Yes, the UK market is doing well but I didn’t realise the rate of increase which is good. This could also be due to many expatriate Sri Lankan Tamils who carry British passports and visit here to see their relatives,” noted Hiran Cooray, Chairman of Jetwing Hotels.
The return of British Airways to Sri Lanka after a 15-year absence will also help to boost the UK market in Sri Lanka.
Indian arrivals, on the other hand, recorded negative growth at (–) 4 per cent in the January-March 2013 quarter largely because of political issues.
Ahintha Amerasinghe, Managing Director at Worldlink Travels, says there are general expectations that the situation would improve as far as Indian visitors are concerned. “This is a huge market for us and hopes of a revival are high,” he said. A sizable number of Indian visitors include Tamil traders from South India who come in for 2-3 days of business and carry-on (sarees and other clothes in their unaccompanied luggage) trade.
Other industry sources said that a fair number of British travellers also stay in cheaper accommodation than star-class hotels. “If you access travel websites like Agoda for example, 80 per cent of the hotels are in the mid-and-low end category,” a hotelier from a 5-star property, who declined to be named, said, adding: “Some are not even registered.”
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