TUI targets long term travel to Colombo
TUI, the world’s largest travel firm, is eyeing the possibility of flying in tourists on their 787 Dreamliner to Colombo once its 500-room hotel in Ahungalla is completed.
In this respect, they hope to fly in their tourists to Sri Lanka based on the availability of adequate room capacity due to which they would not commence immediately since charters require volume, TUI Travel PLC Chief Executive Peter Long said at a media briefing in Colombo during his visit last week. The Dreamliner could carry about 300 passengers and TUI took delivery of its first such plane last year.
TUI’s planned hotel in Ahungalla was done with RUI, the Spanish hotel chain that was set for completion by the end of 2016/16 in a joint partnership with Aitken Spence. And based on this commitment TUI was contemplating commencing charter flight operations to Colombo with at least one per week.
However, no date was fixed yet but TUI heads were in town to ensure that this would become part of their next 3-5 year programme that was currently being developed; Mr. Long said explaining that this was one of the reasons for their visit to Colombo. “We are the only airline to operate 787s on leisure routes,” he said adding that they provide greater comfort and the lower level pressure ensure that passengers would feel less tired due to jet lag.
Commenting on the hotel rates in Sri Lanka, Mr. Long explained that in this regard operating bigger hotels would clearly help adding that it was based on the scale of operation that they would be capable of filling the larger hotels.
Meanwhile, Mr. Long observed that they were also looking at engaging with the tourism authorities in the country in a bid to carrying out a marketing campaign by using varied channels on thousands of retail shops, shop windows and popular websites.
TUI Specialist UK Managing Director Mathew Prior said that there was currently “little or no marketing” in terms of what Sri Lanka stands for and in this regard they wanted to work together with the tourism authorities.
During the delegation’s meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa they were informed that Sri Lanka was one of the safest if not “the” safest place and were assured of the government’s support for the promotion of the country overseas. Meeting Tourism Minister Basil Rajapaksa they were further assured of being engaged in a joint marketing campaign with Sri Lanka Tourism.
The minister explained that they were willing to take suggestions from TUI on product promotion and improvement in a bid to promote the destination.
During the discussions, TUI said they were willing to invest in the country on a long term basis and that their greater focus was on the destination. Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Bhashwara Gunaratne was also present during both meetings.
A further delegation headed by TUI’s Product and Purchasing Director would visit the country again in about three months’ time to discuss the modalities of working out a promotional campaign overseas together with Sri Lanka Tourism.