Sri Lanka the most sought after destination

Shirajiv SIRIMANE in Dubai

Marco Polo, the famous explorer of the 12th century identified Sri Lanka as the "finest island of its size in the whole world". While the development drive is taking Sri Lanka closer to its goal of becoming the Wonder of Asia, the tourism sector is promoting Sri Lanka as the finest island of its size in the world as well as the most sought after destination.

The Sri Lanka stand at the travel mart

Minister of Investment Promotion Rishard Badurdeen with some travel industry leaders.Pix: Shirajiv Sirimane

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the UAE Sarath Wijesinghe and SriLankan Airlines Chairman, Nishantha Wickramasinghe with Dubai-based Sri Lankan investors

The end of the 30-year conflict backed by political stability were the key ingredients which laid the foundation to make Sri Lanka the most sought after destination in the world. The smiling people and the natural beauty of the country were some of the other key tools which would contribute to make Sri Lanka the most sought after destination in the world.

A number of popular publications 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 and many other similar accolades have come Sri Lanka's way. The Government is supporting the tourism industry by providing an uninterrupted power supply, building a carpeted road network with highways and providing land on long-term lease.

The tourism industry has also received a major boost from these ongoing massive infrastructure development 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 on the industry.

With these issues being addressed, another burning problem of transport was solved with the opening of the Southern Expressway bringing additional revenue to the Southern province. The industry is now dreaming of the express way's extension to Matara and its connection to the Colombo-Katunayake Highway which would be expected in the Kalpitiya tourism zone with the assistance of the Government of Qatar.

This zone is now being identified as the new Maldives in the world. For the first time in the history of the industry, travel packages would be launched where a tourist would see Yala and experience Arugam Bay by landing at the Hambantota harbour on a cruise ship or at the Mattala airport and shop in Colombo and board a plane from the Colombo International Airport.

Sri Lanka's tourism industry, which started to make an impact on the economy from the 1970s was considered a somewhat unlucky industry.

The 1983 violence, LTTE terror, and the JVP uprising politically crippled it while the tsunami also had a major negative impact. Whenever the country displayed signs of recovery, some unfortunate obstacles cropped up, making its progress slow and necessitating huge amounts of funds to be invested for promotions.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has set a goal of 2.5 million tourist arrivals to the country by 2016 and President of the Tourist Hotels Association, Anura Lokuhetty said Sri Lanka is set to strike a golden double of three million tourist arrivals and a revenue of three billion US dollars by 2016.

Sri Lanka targeted 705,000 arrivals for 2011 and saw 855,975 arrivals; the revenue generated from the industry was US$ 850 million.

This figure was 407,000 arrivals a decade ago. Sri Lanka which recorded a 46 percent growth in 2010 continued these patterns with 30.8 percent growth last year.

The potential for the industry to be the highest foreign exchange earner to the country is very much on the cards. Employment generation from the industry too would be huge and the present figure of 160,000 employees would double by 2016 to 350,000. This would be the highest employment generating industry by then.

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

0ver 1,000 rooms will be added in 2012 from Pasikuda, Trincomalee and Jaffna. In addition to the 9,500 new 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 in progress at the moment.

Lessons from Dubai

The Sri Lankan Ambassador in the UAE, Sarath Wijesinghe said that Sri Lanka Tourism can learn from the Dubai tourism industry as they only earn four percent of its national income from oil imports and 50 percent of the revenue comes from tourism. "There is only barren land and concrete in Dubai and the country has rightly added many artificial wonders such as shopping malls to attract tourists," he said.

The UAE is looking to achieve nine percent growth in visitor arrivals in 2012, as the country continues to benefit from unrest elsewhere in the region. The Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) said the Emirate of Dubai posted a 10 percent rise in hotel guests in 2011 against the previous year, welcoming 9.3 million hotel guests and cruise passengers with the average length of stay also rising 12 percent to 3.6 days.

He said President Rajapaksa has achieved peace and it is now up to the industry to capitalise on it. SriLankan Airlines Chairman, Nishantha Wickramasinghe said that both Mihin and SriLankan have added capacity to the region and would further consolidate in the Gulf region.

Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2012, the region's leading travel industry showcase was held from April 30 to May 3 and Sri Lanka fielded the highest ever contingent of 51 companies. However, a notable absentee was a representative from the Ministry of Tourism. "This is a great inadequacy," industry stakeholders said. The event saw over 2,400 exhibitors from 87 countries reflecting a seven percent increase of square metres underlining the strength and growth prospects of the regional tourism industry.