Sunday 17 / November / 2024
Muscat: Eyeing travelers planning to spend summer vacation in Sri Lanka and Far East destinations, Mihin Lanka, has increased its flight frequency from Muscat to Colombo, a top official from the airline’s Muscat office said.
“We have increased the frequency from five flights a week to daily. We want to give our passengers increased connectivity. This is a great time to increase the number of flights as summer is a peak season for travelling,” Deepal Pallegangoda, country manager of Mihin Lanka in Muscat, said.
Mihin Lanka launched service on the Muscat-Colombo sector from October 25 last year after its sister airline, SriLankan Airlines ceased operations on the route.
"Omanis prefer to travel to Sri Lanka during holidays. Sri Lanka and Oman have good ties. We are hoping to carry more passengers this year. We are offering attractive holiday packages in partnership Sri Lankan Holidays this summer,” the country manager added.
According to the country manager, Colombo is emerging as a tourism and trade hub in South Asia and ia association with the Lankan government they are offering budget holiday packages.
“We plan to promote the country by providing affordable travel options. More passengers are travelling to Dhaka, Maldives apart from Far East and China using Mihin Lanka. I think this summer more people will travel to Sri Lanka/India and Far East countries compared to Europe as these countries provide affordable options,” the country manager added.
The country manager said that there was a there was a 67 per cent increase in the number of Omani passengers travelling to Sri Lanka in 2014, compared with 2013.
“In 2015, from Oman 14,216 tourists visited Sri Lanka,” the country manager said while adding that it was an 11 per cent increase when compared to 2014 and many Omani businessmen are keen in investing in Lanka.
According to airline officials, Sri Lanka’s Tourism Ministry is planning to increase the room capacity to 45,000 by 2016.
