AKIPRESS.COM - India has been at the 'forefront' of helping Sri Lanka in coming out of its economic crisis said Harin Fernando, minister of tourism and Lands, Sri Lanka during his recent visit to India, The Economic Times reported.
Sri Lankan government is considering measures such as tying up with Indian airline companies such as Air India and Indigo to market special tourism packages for the destination Sri Lanka, besides incentives such as offering insurance for incoming Indian travelers. India is the top source market for tourism and Sri Lanka has a target of attracting one million tourists by December this year.
"There are so many airlines flying from India to Sri Lanka, especially Air India, Indigo, and Sri Lankan Airlines.
Sri Lanka is back to normalcy for tourists. The IMF bailout is giving hope to lending agencies that we can pay off our debt. Right now, the President of Sri Lanka is in Japan negotiating with the Japanese government to see the possibilities of how we can reach an agreement on debt restructuring as well," he said.
Sri Lankan minister visited India for a series of roadshows in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad to promote tourism. "There is a lot of negative news saying people don't have food in Sri Lanka, that we don't have fuel and there is no electricity. I am here to say that is absolutely not true," he said.
"We have a one-hour power cut but most hotels are not impacted as they have generators. We have got our fuel supply back and there are no more cues in Sri Lanka. None of the tourists up until now, or even at the worst point of the crisis, got stranded at any point," the minister added.
He said travel companies such as MakeMyTrip and Mastercard have agreed to market Sri Lanka and the government is also assessing how it can get more entertainment artists from India. "We are speaking to iconic Indian actors, musicians and come December we will have a very different Sri Lanka. We have massive shows planned for December 31 and we will show the world that Sri Lanka is back on its feet," he added.