A major contributor to economy :

Tourism industry to maintain growth momentum

By Shirajiv SIRIMANE

Deputy Minister of Economic Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardane and Chairman SriLankan Airlines, Nishantha Wickramasinghe at the ITB opening ceremony in Berlin

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Germany Sarath Kongahage with industry members at the ITB Sri Lanka stand

The tourism industry is the world's largest service industry. In Sri Lanka too, it had started to make an impact on the economy, but was considered a somewhat unlucky industry.

The 1983 violence, LTTE terror and JVP uprising politically crippled it while the tsunami had a major negative impact on the industry. Whenever the country looked about to recover, some unfortunate obstacle would crop up, slowing down its progress.

However, the private sector, with its never-say-die attitude, entertained the belief that the industry would somehow rebound and kept on investing in the sector, keeping the trade moving. Governments too provided handouts and helped the industry during bad times.

However, today, with permanent peace and a stable government, the industry is enjoying its best years and this healthy trend is expected to continue.

The tourism industry also received a major boost from the massive infrastructure projects that are being completed.One of the biggest problems faced by the industry was the constant interruptions to the power supply which had a major negative impact.

A model of the Mattala Airport.

The Southern Expressway

Hambantota Port

The redeveloped Dutch Hospital Complex in Colombo, a major tourist attraction

With this issue being addressed, another burning problem-transport-was solved with the opening of the Southern Expressway bringing additional revenue to the Southern Province.

The industry is now dreaming of the extension of the Expressway to Matara and it being connected to the Colombo-Katunayake Highway which would be expected with the assistance of the Government of Qatar.

Travel packages

For the first time in the history of the industry, travel packages would be launched where a tourist would see Yala, experience Arugam Bay by landing at the Hambantota harbour on a cruise ship or at the Mattala airport and do shopping in Colombo and get on board from the Colombo International Airport.

Chairman SriLankan Airlines, Nishantha Wickramasinghe said this is strongly on the cards and long-haul flights would have a stopover in Mattala.

The improvements to the road network and tax concessions to import modern buses would certainly help improve Sri Lanka's tourism product. SriLankan Airlines' sea planes are already flying to multiple locations within the country making travel time from one destination to another quicker.

The Government has set a goal of 2.5 million tourist arrivals to the country by 2016 and this goal is currently very much on target. Sri Lanka is expecting over 950,000 tourist arrivals in 2012. Last year more than 55,000 German tourists visited the country while the UK was the second largest European market for Sri Lanka.

Tourist arrivals

One of the biggest advantages of German tours is that they are 14-day stayers and most of them come back the following year. The economic recession in some European countries has not affected them badly.

Tourism in Sri Lanka is clearly on the rise, reaching 855,975 arrivals with 30.8 percent growth in 2011 following a 46 percent growth in 2010. Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals jumped 27 percent in February from a year earlier, with visitor totals climbing every month on a year-on-year basis since a 25-year conflict ended in May 2009 in spite of the global economic slowdown. The unprecedented growth during the last two years, which is continuing in 2012, clearly established Sri Lanka as one of the most sought-after tourism destinations in the world today.

The contribution of tourism to Sri Lanka's GDP is currently around 1.6 percent and this figure is expected to grow rapidly during the years to come as tourism has become a key economic driver in the country.

More rooms

A number of popular international magazines such as National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveler, New York Times and Lonely Planet have recommended Sri Lanka strongly to their readership as a must-visit destination in 2012. Marco Polo, the famous explorer of the 12th century, described Sri Lanka as the "finest island of its size in the whole world" and this idea has been highlighted by these magazines.

The current room capacity of 23,000 is to be increased to 45,000 by 2016 and new rooms will be built around the country, making the country a unique tourism zone for those who want to experience the diversity of this paradise island. One of the biggest features in this development is that 40 percent of the new development would take place in the North and the East.

This year, over 1,000 rooms will be added to the country from Pasikudah, Trincomalee and Jaffna. In addition to the 9,500 hotel rooms which are currently being built, several other tourism-related investments such as golf courses, theme parks, shopping malls, yacht marinas, taxi services and domestic airlines are also in progress.

Capitalising on the tourism boom, many local and foreign investors are venturing into tourism-related developments in the country. The latest international brand to enter the market is Shangri-La which laid the foundation stone for a 661-roomed luxury hotel at the Galle Face.

According to predictions of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), by the end of 2012 more than one billion people, almost 14 percent of the world population, is expected to cross international borders as tourists.

In 2011, more than 980 million tourist arrivals were recorded across the world and 12 million of these came to the South Asian region, contributing six percent of the GDP in this region.

Chairman Sri Lanka Tourism, Dr. Nalaka Godahewa said that in a bid to develop South Asia's unique Buddhist heritage, natural and other tangible and intangible heritage assets, they are looking at joint promotions.

Meanwhile, the industry was satisfied with the outcome of the recently concluded world's largest tourism event, the ITB in Berlin, where 54 Sri Lankan companies participated.

They said the response for Sri Lanka was very good and the event would help them further consolidate their position.

However, the industry was of the opinion that the international media missed a high official representing the Ministry of Tourism. "It seems that the dark and unfortunate days of the industry are now over," they said.