Belgian tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka had increased by 114.5% during the first nine months of 2011 and Sri Lanka has become one of the most preferred destinations in Asia for Belgian tourists, said Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU Ravinatha Aryasinha.

The number of Belgian tourists visiting in this period which was 7200, surpassed the previous highest amount of Belgian tourists who visited Sri Lanka in any given calendar year, which was 6,333 in 2006. 5398 Belgian tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2010, compared to 2613 in 2009, he added.

The 2011 growth pattern is significant in the context of the average increase in tourist arrivals recorded from Western European countries which stood at 25.3%, and the overall global increase which was at 34.3% in the corresponding 9 months, he said.

Ambassador Aryasinha made these observations on the occasion of the 'Visit Asia' Tourism Exposition, organized by 'Connections', one of the leading tour agents in Belgium, and held in Brussels last weekend.

The Ambassador attributed the increase in Belgian tourist arrivals mainly to the aggressive marketing strategies adopted throughout Belgium since the end of the terrorist conflict by different tour agencies including 'Connections', with close cooperation with the Sri Lanka Embassy and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.

He said expansion of air connectivity between Belgium and Sri Lanka also had an important bearing on this increase. In order to cater to the growing demand, Jetair and Thomas Cooke, two of the main tour operators in Belgium started a direct weekly charter flight from Belgium to Sri Lanka since October 2010.

It has been noted that Belgians are known to be high spending tourists and that they stay in Sri Lanka an average of 10 days. While targeting this up-market segment, the Embassy has also planned several new initiatives to be carried out in the coming months, particularly focusing on MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions) tourism, which is also a sector in which Sri Lanka could attract Belgians in the future.