(Colombo, Lankapuvath) – SriLankan Airlines celebrated International Children’s Day on 1st October, with the long awaited launch of its kids frequent flyer programme – ‘YoungSmiLes’.
 
Open to children between two and eighteen years, ‘YoungSmiLes’ is operative in three distinctive categories – ‘Young Blue’, ‘Young Silver’ and ‘Young Gold’ and brings with it a range of benefits and conveniences to its young members. 

(Colombo, Lankapuvath) - SriLankan Airlines and Air Canada announced today (20) a codeshare agreement that will make flying between Sri Lanka and Canada more convenient.
 
“This code share between the two national carriers opens up several key points in Canada in addition to the main cities of Toronto and Montreal and will be a tremendous boost to tourism between the two countries. Additionally, Canada is home to Sri Lanka's largest expatriate community and we greatly value this opportunity to provide a seamless service to our people who live in Canada on SriLankan Airlines with our code share partner, Air Canada,” said G. T. Jeyaseelan, Chief Marketing Officer, SriLankan Airlines.

(Colombo, Lankapuvath) - Aircraft flying training enters a new dimension in Sri Lanka, with the opening of SriLankan Airlines’ Flight Academy, with its first Airbus A320 full flight simulator, located in the Bandaranaike International Airport BIA), offering a total flying experience on ground, to facilitate training for pilots not only in Sri Lanka but in the region of South Asia.

(Colombo, Lankapuvath) – The launch of the first historic hot air balloon flight in Colombo is scheduled take place early hours of today (15).

(Colombo, Lankapuvath) – An equities research report said Sri Lanka could attract 750,000 tourists from India over the next decade, or six fold if Sri Lanka can capture just 2.4 percent of that country's outbound market.

According to the report by Capital Alliance, a Colombo broking house, even if Sri Lanka maintains its current market share of 1.4 percent, the island could attract 440,000 Indians in 10 years.

The report projects, this year's arrivals to grow to 187,000, up from 127,000 last year as the country's total arrivals are expected to top 900,000 from last year's 650,000.

Arrivals from India started to boom before the end of the war after Sri Lanka scrapped pre-approved visa's for Indians, becoming the country's top generating market.

If the visa process is easy, it may not make a difference of more than 150,000 tourists a year, it further added.

The report projects 2.6 million arrivals by 2020 from all countries at a compound annual growth of 15 percent, mimicking that of Cambodia from 2001 to 2010.

The forecast is more conservative than the 2.6 million projected by Sri Lanka's tourism authorities.

A 30-year war ended in Sri Lanka in May 2009, boosting prospects for tourism, and arrivals rose 40 percent in 2010 and are up 36 percent in the seven months to July.

The report says India now has a 12.1 million a year outbound market. A 'cultural affinity' and proximity made Sri Lanka a ready market for Indian travelers. In South East Asia, neighboring countries including China are a key part of inbound travelers.

Passport holders in countries belonging to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) can also travel freely among each country.

More direct daytime flights are also needed to carry more Indians to Sri Lanka. Goa for example has 17 flights from Mumbai and Delhi of which 12 are in the daytime, Capital Alliance said.

(Colombo, Lankapuvath) - Sri Lanka’s eastern coastal resort Arugam Bay plays host for the second consecutive year, to the ‘SriLankan Pro Surf 2011’ - one of the world’s top-rated surfing events, as part of SriLankan Airlines’ multi-pronged strategy to position the island as one of the world’s most sought after travel and sporting destinations.

With two principal events – Men’s World Long board Tour and the Women’s 6 Star World Tour, the ‘SriLankan Airlines Pro 2011’ tournament will attract top stars of the surfing world to Arugam Bay from 30 August to 04 September, with over a 100 competitors from around the world.

The women’s event is a Six Star World Qualifier and will be held in Sri Lanka for the first time with nearly 60 participants from Australia , New Zealand , Spain , Hawaii , South Africa , Portugal , Costa Rica , Ireland , Italy , Puerta Rico , B razil , Japan , UK , Indonesia and Tahiti, billed to ride the waves off Sri Lanka ’s east coast.

Organized by the Australian Surf Professional ASP, the SriLankan Airlines Pro 2011 is an important event for professional surfers. It has the highest rating of ‘Six Stars’ on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour by which competitors qualify to contest for the World Title.

‘SriLankan Airlines Pro 2011’ will showcase the picturesque southeast resort of Arugam Bay aka A-Bay, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, positioning it as a destination for all types of beach lovers, and not just for surfers. It will also bring high exposure to Sri Lanka as a leisure island.

SriLankan Airlines’ Chairman, Nishantha Wickremasinghe said, “ Sri Lanka is firmly back on the world travel map and has proved its ability to host mega events such as this. Having been associated with the sport of surfing for nearly a decade, SriLankan Airlines is happy to bring this top level competition to our shores once again, thus showcasing both Sri Lanka as a holiday destination and the stunning A-Bay in particular.”

SriLankan Airlines is the Principal Sponsor of the event for the second consecutive year with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) as a co sponsor.
 

(Colombo, Lankapuvath) - SriLankan Airlines added yet another aircraft with the acquisition of a four-engined wide-body Airbus A340, expanding its fleet to 19.

(Colombo, Lankapuvath) - Marking yet another step towards boosting tourism industry within the reviving Island nation, the Marine National Park at Hikkaduwa was declared open for the local and foreign tourists yesterday (29).