COLOMBO, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Tourism Minister John Amaratunga on Monday said he had requested the government to develop the Ratmalana Airport in Colombo to cater to international flights.
The Ratmalana Airport currently only caters to domestic flights. Amaratunga said that with an increasing number of tourist arrivals expected in the island country, the country's Bandaranaike International Airport, located in the outskirts of the capital, would not be able to cope with the rising arrivals.
"Until the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) is expanded and developed we will have to come up with an alternate plan to ensure that we can handle the extra arrivals comfortably," Amaratunga said, quoted in a local media report.
More than 1.2 million foreign tourists have arrived in Sri Lanka this year, with China becoming one of the largest source markets for Sri Lanka tourism.
Amaratunga said that thanks to direct air links between Colombo and several Chinese cities, more and more Chinese tourists are now attracted to Sri Lanka.
