Indian tourists boost SriLankan Airlines

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The globe-trotting Indian tourists have just achieved a milestone closer home, having upstaged the British as the leading visitors, nationality-wise, to the island nation. The development has turned out to be a boon for SriLankan Airlines, which has established a significant presence in connectivity between India and Sri Lanka in recent years.

Confirming the development of Indian tourists emerging the top travellers to Sri Lanka, SriLankan Airlines manager Samantha Nagahawatte said the development also held potential for promoting tourism packages that would be to the mutual benefit of destinations in India and Sri Lanka.

“There is so much in common between Kerala and Sri Lanka such as ayurveda, hills and beaches that there could be a common tour packages,” Mr Nagahawatte said, adding that there could even be synergies between the Sri Lankan tourism meet and the bi-annual Kerala Travel Mart.

SriLankan Airlines now operates 95 flights every week out of 10 cities in India, including 13 connecting Thiruvananthapuram, 11 to Kochi and eight to Kozhikode. Mr Nagahawatte said the 100-flights-a-week landmark was just around the corner.

The latest connection for the airline has been a twice-weekly flight to Jeddah, which is its third destination in Saudi Arabia after Dammam and Riyadh. SriLankan officials said Saudi-bound passengers from Kerala now had the option of flying to Jeddah with connections from Colombo on Tuesdays and Fridays.

joe.scaria@timesgroup.com