Sri Lanka Tourism met up with the top hierarchy of Korean Air in Seoul, South Korea on the sidelines of the Korean World Travel Fair – KOTFA to agree on a join strategy of promotion. Talks centred on joint promotions between Sri Lanka Tourism and Korea Airlines which can be beneficial to both parties. The move is aimed at benefitting from the lucrative South Korean market which is worth 14 million travellers with a per capita income of $ 25,000.

“Sri Lanka currently attracts 13,000 visitors from South Korea and we want to double this volume within a year and hence the partnership with Korea Air that operates three flights a week to Colombo will be a key strategy,” said Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau Rohantha Athukorala said.

Korean Air Senior Vice President Passenger Business Division Keelong Woo commented that it was opportune given that he was instrumental in originating the Colombo flight way back in 2012 and the business needs to be picked up for sustainability even though Maldives is a key market for South Korean honeymoon travellers he said.

“We must spread our risk given that five destinations account for 50% of our tourism receipts which means we must look for new destinations outside these five countries. South Korea that has a 14 million outbound market is a clear target,” Athukorala said.  “The good news is that the private sector support is very strong hence we must tie up with Korean Air who understands the Korean traveller better than us. Together we can make this destination a 100,000 business in the years to come,” he added.
The Sri Lanka delegation included the Jagath Kumara Counsellor (Commercial) at Sri Lankan Embassy in South Korea and Director Marketing of Sri Lanka Tourism Madubani Perera.