Sri Lanka safe for tourists: SLTPB

Travel agents in the Middle East have seen tourists flock to Sri Lanka, after the country’s government declared an end to more than 25-years of civil war earlier this year.

The number of travellers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to visit Sri Lanka almost tripled in June this year, compared to the same period in 2008, when the violent conflict was in full flight.

The number of visitors from Qatar, Egypt and Lebanon also rose dramatically.

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau’s Middle East director Heba Al Ghais Al Mansoori, claimed the sudden increase had occurred because the region’s agents had come to see the country as “safe”.

“During the war itself we attempted to open a channel of communication with agents in the MENA region to let them know Sri Lanka was a safe destination,” she said.

“Of course, people still had concerns. Travellers were thinking: ‘There is a war going on, so maybe it will affect us’.

“Although during the conflict, there was never an incident that affected tour operators or travellers in the country.”

Fighting between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had occurred sporadically throughout Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern regions for more than 25 years.

The conflict officially ended in May this year when president Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed the country had been “liberated”.

Although violence was predominantly confined to these areas, tourism figures suggest the Middle East’s agents were still reluctant to promote the destination in the past.

The spike in visitor numbers during June 2009 also coincided with the launch of a promotional campaign by the country’s Tourism Promotion Bureau, branded “Sri Lanka – a small miracle”.