Sri Lankan Holidays Launched In India

Bhisham Mansukhani - Mumbai

Lal Talgaswatte

Sri Lankan Airlines recently launched its dedicated vacations brand titled Sri Lankan Holidays in Mumbai with a multi-pronged objective of driving tourism to Sri Lanka as well as enhance yields on flights to key Far East destinations. Sri Lankan Airlines currently operates the maximum number of flights for an international airline, out of India.

Although the airline has been formulating promotional packages for Sri Lanka and Malaysia in the past, it is now looking to organise this format of promotion with a purpose driven brand. Says Lal Talgaswatte, regional manager - western and central India, Sri Lankan Airlines, "Sri Lankan Holidays was launched with the objective of creating an individual brand identity which will compliment the airline in so much as support our yields and increase tourism to our country but the separation of the two brands is important." While the concept, Talgaswatte says, had been mulled over for a long time, the launch had been put on ice for a while due to some infrastructural lags.

Talgaswatte was quick to differentiate the new company from a conventional tour operations business, allaying any fears of added competition to the existing players. "Sri Lankan Airlines will not compete with the tour operators business per se but will work with them. The company has identified ground handler partners in Sri Lanka who will provide accommodation, transport and sightseeing. We will create the packages and sell them through our tour operators partners," Talgaswatte assured.

Sri Lankan Holidays' initial focus will be on the popular Sri Lanka-Maldives circuit. Sri Lankan Holidays has already been launched in five Indian metros and now we will target secondary cities like Ahmedabad, Kochi and Calicut.

"This is an investment towards promoting Sri Lanka although many Far East destinations like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia will also feature among the holiday package options. Leisure and MICE markets are the bell weathers of the Indian outbound markets and the destinations that feature in our packages will concentrate on tapping these two segments. Short haul destinations have found favour with the first time travellers. I think the market for Sri lanka and Far East destinations is constantly in flux on the positive side. The lower the prices get, the more innovative the credit opportunities for the middle class, the larger the tourism base will be from India to these destinations," Talgaswatte said.