Kolkata: After Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Sri Lankan President Renil Wickremesinghe at Dubai airport during her foreign tour and invited him to attend Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), a delegation from Sri Lankan Tourism department visited Kolkata to meet state government officials to discuss ways of cross tourism between West Bengal and Sri Lanka.
Nalin Perera, director general of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, shared the details during his visit to Kolkata and said by 2024 Sri Lanka is planning to attract at least 2.5 million tourists.
Sri Lanka plans to attract 2.5 million tourists by 2024
"We had an internal turmoil after the pandemic. But we are reviving fast. The third largest source of our revenue is through tourism. We have already welcomed one million tourists this year. Among them, nearly two lakhs were from India. This accounts for 22-24% of our total market share. This is significant as India has been the market leader in the last few months as far as the number of tourists' arrival is concerned. We are now looking at 2.5 million tourists globally to visit our country in 2024."
Thisum Jayasuriya, chairman of Sri Lanka Convention Bureau who was also in Kolkata said, "I had urged people from this city to visit our country during festive season and I have also learnt from officials that till direct connectivity is resumed such tourist influx is slightly difficult."
