COLOMBO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka is aiming to attract transit passengers at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport to make short visits into the island country to boost tourism earnings, a Sri Lankan Airlines official has said.
Holidays Manager at SriLankan Airlines, Buddhika Hewawasam said airline officials would soon hold discussions with the Tourism Ministry and other organization members to attract transit passengers to visit Sri Lanka, according to local media reports Tuesday.
"We actually have about 400,000 transit passengers who stay between 8 to 24 hours at the Colombo airport, so these passengers are a good source of short-term tourism," Hewawasam said.
In total, Sri Lanka has 1.5 million transit passengers per year, according to Finance Ministry data.
"We are planning to attract them to visit Sri Lanka with a combined tour package with all the partners," Hewawasam added.
Sri Lankan Airlines said that the airline is positive that the 'transit passenger strategy' will generate short-term tourism earnings for the country.
Sri Lanka is aiming for at least 2.5 million tourists this year, but tourism has been dented after the Sunday Easter terror attacks.
