People will no longer have any fear or worry about their safety and security when visiting Sri Lanka and they are convinced that Sri Lanka is a safe destination said an optimistic John Holden, Cathay Pacific’s Country Manager in Sri Lanka in a recent Interview with "Aviation".

With the thirty year old war coming to an end there will be an increased flow of traffic to the country and it will not only be tourists but also businessmen, investors and people from other sectors as well he added.

"We are offering special packages to the 18,000 strong staff in our international network to visit Sri Lanka and experience the situation here now," he said.

Cathay is working with Sri Lankan tour operators and the hospitality industry to offer industry discounts to airline staff Holden said.

Cathay will also fly media personnel from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and tour operators from Japan and Korea to visit Sri Lanka. All these countries have shown a keen interest in promoting Sri Lanka as a destination he said.

The airline is also working with the Tourism Boards of Hong Kong, China, Thailand and Singapore in embarking on joint promotions, Holden noted.

We have already introduced six different packages promoting Sri Lanka among Hong Kong nationals he said.

Sri Lanka should strive to improve the standards and facilities in tourist hotels, restaurants, resorts and places of tourist attraction and offer a premium product which will augur well for the industry he pointed out.

"It is also important that the restaurants and hotels offer different international cuisine and bigger choice and variety in shopping if Sri Lanka wants to bring its tourism product to a luxury level and attract premium customers ," he said.

Holden stressed that infrastructure development is sine qua non, specially the road conditions, if the country is to improve its tourism.

It is important there are better road conditions as families with children and older people will be encouraged to travel around if these conditions are met, he said.

It should be prepared to meet the surge in tourist traffic in the post war period and it will augur well for the tourism industry, said Holden.

Holden said travel advisories which has bothered the country’s tourism industry in the past will be gradually lowered and more people will start heading for Sri Lanka since an opening has been created for them to visit this country without any restrictions and fear after a long period.

Asked whether Cathay plans to increase its frequencies to Colombo in the near future Holden said Cathay will now continue with HK-Colombo-HK daily flights but looking at options to introduce more flights in the future with the expected tourism boom.

Now Cathay flies seven times a week to Colombo, four times via Singapore and three times via Bangkok.