The end of a 30-year-old civil war will be an uplifting factor in attracting foreign tourists to Sri Lanka, the visiting chairman of the island nation's flagship airline said Friday in Tokyo.
"Under the impact of the global economic setback, the downtrend in foreign tourists visiting Sri Lanka will prevail till the yearend," said SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickramasinghe. "But we are witnessing signs of an upturn for the next year."
Wickramasinghe and some of his fellow directors are in Tokyo to attend events marking the 25th anniversary of the beginning of direct flights to Tokyo from the Indian Ocean nation.
The company now flies nonstop to Tokyo three times a week. Wickramasinghe said he hopes to increase that to daily flights in the near future.