Sri Lanka to construct new airport terminal to accommodate more arrivals
Posted on February 6th, 2020
Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, Feb.6 – The Sri Lankan government will soon commence construction of a new terminal at the Bandaranaike International Airport in order to accommodate a larger number of arrivals, Xinhua news agency, citing local media reported here Thursday.
Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka Ltd (AASL), G.A. Chandrasiri told the Daily News here that currently the passenger capacity of the Bandaranaike International Airport was 6.9 million, but at the end of 2019, there were 10 million passenger arrivals.
However, with the completion of the new Terminal 2” in three years, the airport was planning to accommodate 20 million passengers per year.
Since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war in May 2009, the country’s tourism sector has seen significant growth with arrivals averaging at 2 million tourists per year.
Last year, Sri Lanka received a little over 1.9 million tourists with India, China and Britain being the largest markets for Sri Lanka Tourism.
This year, the new government has aimed to attract 3 million tourists, increasing it to 10 million within five years.