Qatar Airways signs code-share agreement with Sun-Air

Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar and one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, has signed a code-share agreement with Danish carrier Sun-Air, a franchise of British Airways. Effective October 8, 2015 Sun-Air and Qatar Airways are introducing code-share flights between Billund, Aalborg and Aarhus in Jutland, the Western part of Denmark, and several European destinations including Oslo, Brussels, Manchester and Munich. This new cooperation expands the options for Qatar Airways’ passengers travelling to and from Denmark, opening up an enhanced range of travel options in addition to Copenhagen. The code-share agreement will lead to excellent new connections between Denmark and a large number of business and leisure destinations around the world including Bali, Singapore, Mumbai, Goa, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hanoi, Shanghai, Hyderabad and Dhaka. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, said: Sun-Air’s company values are closely aligned with those of Qatar Airways and we therefore see excellent opportunities with this new code-share agreement, maintaining and enhancing our competitive offer to customers. Qatar Airways is expanding rapidly across the world and the agreement with Sun-Air further strengthens our position, whilst providing our passengers with an unrivalled global network.” Sun-Air’s Commercial Director, Kristian Tvergaard, said: ”We are honoured to be able to add the Qatar Airways code on our flights and in this way offer unique connections for our customers between our three bases in Jutland - Billund, Aarhus and Aalborg - and the Qatar Airways hub in Doha. I am convinced our customers will appreciate the global network offer beyond Doha and not least the excellent inflight service offered by Qatar Airways which is very similar to Sun-Air’s.” - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/91545/qatar-airways-signs-code-share-agreement-with-sun-air#sthash.6bhl4HUj.dpuf

Sri Lanka Tourism celebrate ‘World Tourism Day'

The Chairman Sri Lanka a Promotions Bureau Dr Rohantha Athukorala who orchestrated the partnership Dr Silva the Founder and coordinator of the Tourism Masters programme said ' the tourism business is the most competitive and dynamic industry one can work as it is to do with people's leisure and their behaviour. Hence, this keeps changing daily where people are seeking new experiences in their life. This in turn demands the industry to change accordingly.  If we do not, we will loose our competitiveness. Which is where the Colombo University will help us  bridge this gap. This makes the celebration of Worlds Tourism Day very purposeful he said. Universities globally are  organisations that perform a key role within contemporary society by educating large proportions of the population and generating knowledge but many universities have taken action to develop a ‘third mission’ by fostering links with knowledge users and facilitating technology transfer. The latter is what we are interested in and the private sector tourism chambers- SLITO, THASL and ASMET will be the key stakeholders in the partnership said Athukorala.  The key issues that were identified and shared at the World Tourism day with the university of Colombo were as follows: - Strategies for better management of traffic in wildlife parks Are the tourist arrival numbers right - case study in Sri Lanka, Building a destination brand in the digital age, Importance hygiene and sanitation when a country attracts top end visitors, Can Sigiriya the 8th wonder be better marketers. Is casinos the best way to attract the top dollar tourist, the need for the Tourism master plan for Sri Lanka, The HR issue in the hospitality industry of Sri Lanka , Why has the Tourism industry not grown like the tea and apparel industry of Sri Lanka, Do Chinese tourist increase the crime rate in a country - case study of Sri Lanka Should Sri Lanka focus on Golf Tourism? How to moderate online booking companies operating is Sri Lanka, Halal tourism will it work in Sri Lanka? A structured process of new product development for the tourism industry, What is carrying capacity in the Tourism industry? Is there a future for Charters to work in the Sri Lanka's tourism sector, The relationship between infrastructure development and tourist arrivals in a country just to name a few. All copy research topics that has been approved by the senate will be available at the Sri Lanka Tourism library so that it can be used by the private sector which I will personally monitor commented Dr Athukorala.

Tourism Receipts touch $2.1 billion as at end September 2015

Sri Lanka's Tourism recorded the highest growth of 35.9% in September whilst tourism receipts reached 2.1 billion dollars as at end September 2015 which is the upturn we have seen with strong promotions done by a private-public partnership. The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau chairman Dr Athukorala opinioned that the key issue to address is the un-control sector leisure industry accounting for 49% of business whilst it's imperative that we focus on attracting the $250 tourist ensure financial sustainability.