A large number of Iranian holiday makers have selected Sri Lanka as their "No-rooz" new year holiday destination when the holidays commence from 19th March, this year.

Last year an initiative by the Sri Lanka Mission in Tehran led to five charter loads of Iranians making their way to the island to spend their new year holidays in Sri Lanka, which coverered a period of nearly two weeks.This year the number of direct charter flights from and to Colombo have exceeded 20, an increase of nearly 400%.Nearly all the charters were already in the process of getting fully booked, according to the travel operators here, one of whom ATA said that 2000 had booked 9 charters on Mihin Air.An increasing number of tour operators here are looking at Sri Lanka as a new destination for Iranian tourists.

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Iran M.M. Zuhair said that several other agencies had also booked charter flights to Colombo but the greatest problem they had faced was to get airlines to release their planes from regular scheduled flights for the charters.There was a complaint last year of inordinate delays at the BIA, to allow charter passengers to disembark but the Mission had brought this to the notice of the authorities in Colombo and this year we hope to ensure fullest cooperation at all points, the Ambassador said.The travel agents in Colombo have booked five and four star hotels in the capital Colombo as well as down south in addition to the central hills for the incoming tourists, most of whom had opted for beach front hotels for their vacation.

Ambassador Zuhair said that the Mission had worked hard to encourage Iranian tourists to visit Sri Lanka and referred in particular to the support and encouragement given by Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda, Deputy Minister Faizer Musthapha and the officials of the Ministry and the Tourist Board, all of whom had promptly responded to the Mission’s requests made from time, to resolve problems that occurred from time to time.

(Courtesy : The Island)