Many Sri Lankans likely to holiday abroad in Nov-Dec
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Ms. Parveen Dassenaike
Many Sri Lankans are likely to make use of their fully-vaccinated status to travel overseas on holiday, meeting friends and family members during the end of the year, a top travel industry official said.
“With Switzerland allowing fully-vaccinated inbound travellers without any restrictions to enter the country, we are fielding many inquiries from Sri Lankans to visit that country in November-December,” according to Parveen Dassenaike, Chairperson/Managing Dirctor United Ventures, adding: “There is pent-up demand.”
From November 4, Swiss International Airlines will offer two weekly flights operated by leading Swiss leisure airline Edelweiss between Colombo and Zurich for business and private travel. Lufthansa Group Airlines, which owns the Swiss airline, will partner with United Ventures as its new General Sales Agency (GSA) for the Sri Lankan market from September onwards.
According to the Civil Aviation Department, 125,000 people have travelled abroad from January to June 2021.
Ms. Dassenaike said that many of those travelling abroad these days are those who are dual citizens and students. “The US is an attraction as people can visit families or siblings. There is quite a movement to the US since there are not many restrictions,” she said adding that with most Sri Lankans gradually getting both vaccines, there would be an increase in outbound travel.
In a statement, George Ettiyil, responsible for all commercial activities in South Asia for the Lufthansa Group airlines, said: “With United Ventures we have nothing less than a top-notch service provider supporting us in what is a crucial market for our South Asian airline business.”
According to the flight schedule from November 4, the LX 8065 (operated by Edelweiss) will depart Colombo at 10:05 am (Thursday) and 12:50 pm (Saturday) and arrive in Zurich at 04:40 pm and 07:15 pm, respectively.
The LX8064 (operated by Edelweiss) will depart Zurich at 5:50 pm (Friday) and 08:55 pm (Sunday) and reach Colombo at 08:20 am and 11:20 am, respectively.