Indian tourists to Sri Lanka could reach 1 mln in 2020

India tourists are Sri Lanka’s largest source market with almost 400,000 arrivals annually and there is optimism that this figure could reach one million tourists by 2020, according to the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau, Prema Cooray.
He was addressing a contingent of travel trade representatives from India who arrived at the Cinnamon Grand Lakeside Hotel in Colombo on Saturday for a 2-day conference organised by the NKAR Travels group.
Mr. Cooray said a group of around 200 Indian travel trade representatives are expected to arrive in Colombo soon for another travel convention.
Referring to Meetings, Incentive travel, ConferEnces and Events (MICE) tourism, he said it has a great potential in promoting tourism in Sri Lanka. "There is also a huge demand for weddings in Sri Lanka as it brings more revenue to the country." Travel between both countries has been facilitated with 127 flights from Colombo to most Indian cities a week. "Without connectivity we cannot promote tourism. Airports are far more superior now than what it was 10 years ago,” he added.
Damian Fernando, CEO of NKAR Travels and Tours Ltd, said that Sri Lanka is now becoming a destination for MICE tourism as many countries have focused their attention here. "We are very fortunate to host many MICE events in Sri Lanka,” he added. (JJ)