High air fares deterrent to Bangladeshis visiting Sri Lanka
High air fares on direct flights between Dhaka and Colombo is deterring more Bangladeshi travellers from visiting Sri Lanka.
SriLankan Airlines being the only carrier that flies directly to and from Dhaka with only one flight per day costs around US$ 700 on economy class on average on a round trip, a top Bangladeshi official stated.
But the 3-hour SriLankan Airlines flight from Dhaka to Colombo costs way too expensive for an ordinary traveller in Bangladesh, High Commissioner to Bangladesh in Sri Lanka, Riaz Hamidullah told the Business Times recently on the sidelines of an event in Colombo.
He said, “While many Sri Lankans have invested in various sectors in Bangladesh, travellers from there would also like to explore the opportunities in Sri Lanka. But high air fares to Sri Lanka from Bangladesh have become an obstacle that compels tourists to look at other destinations.” There are other airlines with cheap air fares that fly to Sri Lanka, but with one or two transits and long layovers, he added.
Thus Sri Lanka experiences a low number of tourist arrivals from Bangladesh, stated Mr. Hamidullah while elaborating that Bangladesh is drastically moving out from low income to middle income status in a country with 160 million people.
“Tourist arrivals data reveal that 1.3 million Bangladeshis visited India in 2016, the largest number of arrivals from a single country to India. The tourists spent more than $5 billion in India in 2016. Sri Lanka does not even receive one per cent out of that these 1.3 million tourists,” he noted.
Mr. Hamidullah explained that SriLankan Airlines must map out its frequency of flights to Dhaka, reduce the costs and encourage more tourists to visit Sri Lanka. The Colombo Dhaka sector is the fifth profitable route for SriLankan Airlines. The starting flight prices are very high which an ordinary traveller cannot afford. Travellers instead fly from Dhaka to Sri Lanka via Malaysia which cuts down the travel cost by 40 per cent. Singapore to Dhaka costs only $350 while Jet Airways flies from Dhaka to Sri Lanka via Mumbai over a nine hour layover.
He also pointed out, “The Dhaka-Colombo route is a much anticipated route that needs to be looked at again to attract more Bangladeshi travellers to Sri Lanka.”
Tourists who take the Dhaka Colombo SriLankan Airlines flight without considering the high fares are mainly Sri Lankans working in Bangladesh and high spending business travellers, Mr. Hamidullah noted.