US agency A&K to market Sri Lanka to unknown US travellers
A&K President Phil Otterson with A&K Agency Sales Vice President Marett Taylor, A&K Marketing Executive Vice President Amy Weyman along A&K Sri Lanka Chairman Afghar Mohideeen speaking to Business Times. Pic by Nissanka Meegoda
Abercrombie & Kent (A&K), a leading US based travel firm, has big plans for Sri Lanka as a destination to bring in more high-end tourists from the US to visit this ‘unheard of isle’ to most travellers from America.A&K President Phil Otterson speaking with the Business Times recently during his first visit to the country and on tour to some of the key attractions, said they were looking at selling and marketing the destination in the US market where this place is literally unheard of.
This year the company had selected India and Sri Lanka as many consumers would want to travel in this manner with a short trip via air to the island nation not to be missed, he said.A&K will be eyeing to market this destination under their small group journeys category, Marco Polo sector, Tailor Made trip for the Free Individual Traveller and family tours as well.
Mr. Otterson who was visiting the country with two other colleagues A&K Agency Sales Vice President Marett Taylor and A&K Marketing Executive Vice President Amy Weyman said they were impressed with the level of service and hospitality of the people wherever they travelled to.
Trying to compare Sri Lanka to India, he noted, was not possible since Sri Lanka offered a more calm and pristine environment and setting. The reason to market both destinations was because, Mr. Otterson said that many who travel this far would want two passport stamps.
The Sri Lankan “experience is incomparable to any other destination,” he noted adding that it provided luxury travel for safaris and the exotic wild and a trip to a less heard of and less travelled to place.
He pointed out that they would be working with the Sri Lanka Tourism Ministry and the US Tourism Authority in this regard for promoting and marketing the destination in the US.But currently, the impediments to visit the country is mainly due to the fact that travellers have not heard about Sri Lanka and secondly, people are not keen on taking connecting flights.
On the other hand, Mr. Otterson noted if there was a New York – Colombo nonstop flight it would create the right space for travel; and right now the need was to create more awareness and traffic on this route.
Currently the demand from the US was very low compared to the high demand from the UK and marketing(this destination) will take about three years , it was noted.US travellers were interested in the cultural and historical places of attractions when touring the country, it was noted adding that they would spend about US$700-750 per day.Travellers would also be in for a treat on their palette since unlike India, Sri Lanka offers a variety of western food and local cuisine, Mr. Otterson explained.
While promoting the cultural and historical sites, A&K also plans to sell the East coast as well however Jaffna would not be on the cards yet.
Sri Lanka needs to increase the availability of its five star hotels and resorts, it was pointed out in addition to creating better infrastructure.
In addition, increased internal air connectivity was vital to ease travel within the country and more promotions were required from the tourism authorities involving public and private sectors.
Five star accommodation units were also required on the safari tours for camping in the wild where Sri Lanka was reported to have the highest density of the leopard, the visitors said.Mr. Otterson pointed out that in this respect they were involved in conserving this animal in the wild by providing pens under the “Project Leopard” initiative together with Cinnamon Resorts and Cinnamon Nature Trails based in Yala.
Due to the risk of human leopard conflict since leopards were found entering buffer zones near the Yala National Park and preying on domesticated cattle, the best way to alleviate the problem was to provide steel pens for the cattle to be herded into at night.
In this respect, the five steel pens were provided with an additional 20 more enclosures which would be given out next year from A&K Philanthropy which is the social and environmental commitment arm, registered as a non-profit charity that aims at helping nature to thrive and cultures to flourish by positively impacting lives and livelihoods in the communities where A&K guests travel to.