German Tourist Arrivals Set To Boom

By Nirmala Kannangara

FTI Touristik, the leading German tour operator, and recipient of the prestigious Gold Award by Sri Lanka Tourism for three consecutive years for being the highest producing German tour operator to Sri Lanka, is fully geared to bring more German tourists to the country in the months to come, visiting Managing Director, FTI, Boris Raoul told The Sunday Leader.
Raoul who was in Sri Lanka on a three day tour, said that he was happy as he could now sell Sri Lanka “effortlessly” and increase the arrivals through various marketing strategies. “Sri Lanka has become a very important long haul destination for German tourists and I’m happy to say that FTI has made vacation dreams of German tourists come true,” Raoul said.

To make his Sri Lankan tour more successful, Raoul has met many leading hoteliers and tourism officials to discuss future plans to expand the programmes to Sri Lanka and to find out as to how FTI could help hoteliers to upgrade their properties to offer a better product.

“Sri Lanka is an astonishing country with much to offer to the tourists — from the exhilarating golden beaches, hill country and to cultural heritage sites and excursions. It is also exciting to note as to how the tourism industry has thrived during the post war period. From the time we started operating to Sri Lanka in 2001, we have been able to increase the number of German arrivals to the country. We have featured and promoted almost every hotel from Marawila to Koggala ranging from three to five star categories in our brochures and retail network. We also hope to assist a selected number of needy hotels to upgrade their properties to offer a better product to the guests,” Raoul said.

However, Raoul ruled out any plans of investing with hotels. However he said that he has to study as to how he could assist the needy hoteliers to upgrade their properties. “Not withstanding our past achievements of being the highest producing tour operator from Germany, we are looking forward to continue our position as the leading tour operator to Sri Lanka in the future as well. Comparing to last year’s arrivals, we have projected to increase this year’s arrivals by 40% which would be a great achievement,” claimed Raoul. Meanwhile, Managing Director, JourneyScapes (Pvt) Ltd — the destination management company of FTI Touristik, Devindre Senaratne said that he was pleased to see as to how FTI Touristik has committed themselves to promote Sri Lanka all over Germany not only through brochures and their retail network, but also in their Sonnenklar TV which is the largest travel channel in Germany.

“It is a great feat to have got Sri Lanka featured in Sonnenklar TV as it is a widely watched travel channel and a unique way of marketing destinations. We have become one of the most sought after destinations among the Germans even during the war due to FTI’s unwavering commitment. Undoubtedly FTI was one of the very few tour operators that continued to promote the destination despite the adverse travel advisories during the war. Since 2005 there has been a steady growth in German arrivals to the country. Although we projected a 40% increase by the end of this year, the arrival statistics up to end September clearly show that our target could be achieved within the next few weeks and the arrival growth could exceed 45%,” Senaratne told The Sunday Leader.