SriLankan Airlines is firmly focused on increasing its foothold in the Middle East travel market with a concerted promotional effort at the 25th Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai.

Having served the sector for years, SriLankan Airlines is a known entity on the Middle East- Colombo route, with the airline's famed standards of service and hospitality being one of the chief attractions for tourists and business travellers choosing to fly SriLankan Airlines.

Significantly, 23 per cent of the total passenger count on the Middle East-Colombo sector comprises of Middle Eastern business and leisure travellers, either making a vacation trip to enjoy some of Sri Lanka's many-splendoured delights, or business visitors travelling to make deals in Colombo or other Asian or Australian destinations. The tie-up with the Oneworld alliance has further enhanced traffic flows to the airline from their partners, making Colombo a growing transport hub.  

At ATM, the airline has pulled out the stops to attract even more tourists and business travellers from the region by leveraging the enormous pulling power of the Indian Ocean island paradise combined with seamless onward connections to India, Southeast, East Asia as well as to Australia.

With inbound tourist numbers on the upswing, SriLankan Airlines is engaged in active interactions with travel industry decision makers from across the wider region, most of whom will be attending Arabian Travel Market, the leading international trade event for travel and tourism industry in the Middle East and beyond.

“We regard Arabian Travel Market as an important stage to reach the travel industry professionals in the Middle East, which is one of our most important source destinations,” said Dimuthu Tennakoon, head of Worldwide Sales and Distribution, SriLankan Airlines. “It is important to be present here to both interact and network with our regional travel trade partners as also acquaint them with our latest product offerings and future developments.”

Responding to growing demand from the region, SriLankan Airlines has recently boosted its services with daily flights to Colombo from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Muscat, Bahrain and Kuwait to 68 flights a week. The airline is also looking at increasing connectivity to other parts of the Gulf depending on demand.

SriLankan Airlines today flies an all Airbus fleet, which includes the state-of-the-art A330-300 and A320neo aircraft connecting to 105 destinations in 47 countries (including codeshare operations). Launched in 1979, Sri Lanka’s national carrier is an award-winning airline with a solid reputation for service, comfort, safety, reliability, and punctuality. - TradeArabia News Service