The airline hopes to bring more tourists to Sri Lanka with the partnership.
Singapore Airlines and Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau have joined hands to boost tourism in the country. The collaboration is expected to help Sri Lanka’s ailing tourism sector, which has been significantly harmed by the twin blows of COVID and the current economic crisis.
On April 12th, Singapore Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) in an effort to bring back some sense of normalcy to the country’s beleaguered tourism industry.
Ms. Kimarli Fernando, Chairperson, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, signed the MoU with Singapore Airlines, represented by David Lau, Regional Vice President West Asia & Africa. The MoU will allow Sri Lanka to take advantage of SIA’s extensive route network, bringing customers from other countries to Sri Lanka.
As reported by The Island, SIA and SLTPB will conduct joint activities under the agreement to boost the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. This includes media and agent familiarization tours initially targeting main source markets to Sri Lanka via SIA, such as Australia and Singapore.
Other markets, such as the ones in the Far East, will be included eventually, depending largely on their reopening plans for tourism. Print, electronic, and social media activities are also planned in the long run.
Sri Lanka is suffering from its worst economic crisis, with money running alarmingly low. The country closed its borders to tourists for nearly a year and a half during the height of the COVID pandemic, depriving the nation of much-needed tourism revenue. As such, partnerships such as the one with SIA could be a good idea to bring back tourists.
Follow Simple Flying for all the latest aviation news.
Sri Lanka isn’t the only country in the region receiving love from SIA. The airline has also increased its network to India in the last few weeks by offering more seats by deploying the A380 to Delhi and Mumbai.
Last week, Singapore’s government announced that from April 26th, residents would no longer be required to use TraceTogether– a system for COVID exposure contact tracing. Also, vaccinated travelers can enter the city without any restrictions.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) data reveals that Indians made up the largest number of overseas arrivals in Singapore – around 54,530. A total of 2,46,120 visitors arrived in Singapore during the first calendar quarter this year – a sign of travel picking up but still significantly low compared to the same pre-pandemic quarter in 2019 of 4.69 million.
Singapore Airlines has been gradually re-establishing its footprints around the world. Last month, it resumed passenger flights to the Australian cities of Cairns and Darwin after a very long absence using the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The carrier will eventually deploy its 737 MAX plane to Cairns.
Around the same time, the airline also resumed its A380 service to New York JFK via Frankfurt. Flight SQ26 departs at 23:55 from Singapore and arrives in New York JFK at 11:10 local time the next day. This includes a 1 hour 50 minutes stopover at Frankfurt airport.
Singapore Airlines also remains committed to long-haul flying by taking the delivery of another Airbus A350 airplane earlier this month and is the world’s largest operator of the type, with 59 in its fleet.
Source: The Island
Journalist – With a background in publishing and digital media, I like to combine my love for aviation with my passion for storytelling and reporting. I’m a keen observer of ever-changing aviation trends around the world and particularly in India. I also keep a close eye on fleet development of all major carriers and their subsequent impact on regional and international routes. Based in New Delhi, India.