COLOMBO, March 14 (PNA/Xinhua) — Sri Lanka has requested one of the world’s leading tour operators in Europe to promote the island country as a high-end tourist destination, Sri Lanka’s Tourism Ministry said here Monday.
Germany’s leading tour operator TUI has expressed willingness to expand operations in Sri Lanka and the TUI Group will also assist Sri Lanka to develop its hospitality training facilities.
During recent discussions between Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister John Amaratunga and top Board Members of the Group that included CEO David Burling and Managing Director, Garry Wilson, Amaratunga emphasized that tourism is expected to play a major role in Sri Lanka’s economy and requested TUI to focus on promoting Sri Lanka as a high end tourist destination.
The minister also requested TUI to consider the country’s former war-torn North and East when expanding their operations in the country in order to provide more economic opportunities for youth in the region.
Managing Director of TUI Group Garry Wilson said that TUI was contemplating using Sri Lanka as a hub in the Indian Ocean region in order to service other regional destinations.
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has seen an upward trend since the end of the country’s 30-year civil conflict between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009.
India and China have been the leading markets with the most number of tourist arrivals.
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