Financial Times

Thomas Cook upbeat on Sri Lanka
Thomas Cook, one of the world's largest tour operators, is upbeat about Sri Lanka and believes the country will positively recover from the tsunami disaster.

Company officials, visiting from the group's Indian office along with Ananda Dhatabaya, CEO of the Colombo operations, said they believed tourism was picking up and didn't foresee any sharp drop in arrivals by the end of the year.

"The return of tourists will come back steadily and has been faster than anticipated. We are seeing a lot of inquiries. We gauge demand by the number of inquiries and the number of bookings. Clearly the numbers we are seeing this summer are good and we expect that would actually increase the flow," noted Madhavan K. Menon, executive director, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd.

Dhatabaya said one could consider the tragedy as a blessing in disguise given the exposure Sri Lanka has received. Thomas Cook is now a German company and owns the Condor charter airline which operates regular flights to Colombo.

Menon said the company was fortunate not to lose any tourists from India, Germany or Europe during the devastation here. "Despite the tsunami we were one of the first airlines to commence flights to Colombo. We never removed Sri Lanka as a destination from our brochures. We continue to promote this country and now the current brochures carry a wider range of Sri Lankan resorts and destinations."

While saying that Thomas Cook hopes to send more tourists to Sri Lanka in the current year, Menon complimented Sri Lanka on how quickly it was been able to stand on its feet; reopen hotels and convince the world this is a one-off situation; He believes Indian tourists, rising sharply in the past three years, could be the biggest visitors to Sri Lanka this year.

Responding to a question, Menon said many tourists arranged by the company came to help and stayed on and helped. "We are aware that many tourists who were here during the crisis decided to stay back and help."

Menon believes that it's a good sign that Asia, despite the tsunami, still attracts high levels of tourism. "That's a good sign - people are saying we'll go somewhere in Asia and then come back here (Sri Lanka or any affected destination)."

Ram Kenkere, head of legal and company secretary Thomas Cook India, and Sandeep Bannerjee, chief operating officer of the Colombo office were also present during the interview.

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