Tourism Fund to boost travel industry

by Lalin FERNANDOPULLE

The tourism boom in Sri Lanka has spurred on the need for more hotels, resorts and spas across the country which has been rated as one of the safest and best locations to visit, said Chairman, Jetwing Hotels, Hiran Cooray.

He was addressing a ceremony to launch the Ceylon Tourism Fund on Wednesday.

A foreign couple walk on the beach in the Eastern coast.

Cooray said the Southern and the Eastern coastline which has some of the finest beaches and popular destinations has immense potential to promote tourism.

"The number of tourists visiting the East has increased remarkably in the recent months and the upsurge is expected to continue following the aggressive promotion of the destination", he said.

Maalu Maalu, the first BOI hotel to be set up at Passikuda by Amaya Leisure is a stepping stone for hotel sector investors to follow suit.

Sri Lanka has been acknowledged world over as a hot spot for tourism and a destination that should not be bypassed.

The New York Times has rated Sri Lanka as the number one destination in the world to visit while the National Geographic has rated the country the second best island destination to visit after Cuba.

"The island with a population of 20 million, feels like one big tropical zoo: elephants roam freely, water buffaloes idle in paddy fields and monkeys swing from trees. And then there is the pristine coastline", New York Times.

"Sri Lanka has got absolutely everything... hundreds of miles of amazing undiscovered beaches and coral marine life, it is one of the greatest islands for beaches. Sri Lanka has got a wonderful history and culture in a really small space", Jill Crawshow, Travel Writer of the Times.

Despite the natural beauty and cultural splendour many places in Sri Lanka remain undiscovered by tourism.The untouched reefs in the Northern and Eastern provinces are havens for whale watching, wind surfing,snorkelling and scuba diving.

Cooray said the infrastructure development in the North and the East, Southern highway, ports and airports to be constructed in selected locations will help the tourism industry to expand rapidly.

Managing Director Aitken Spence Hotels, Malin Hapugoda said hotels and resorts across the country will be the future of Sri Lankan tourism and added that the number of hotel rooms has to be increased to cater to the rise in tourists arrivals.

The current number of hotel rooms in the country is around 14,500 and the industry needs around 16,000 additional rooms to meet the target of attracting 2.5 million tourists by 2016.

The number of tourist arrivals during January to June this year increased by 50 percent compared to the sluggish growth of last year.

Tourist arrivals from the Middle East doubled this year and the number of visitors from India increased by 78 percent.

The occupancy rate in many city hotels are over 80 percent, an increase from around 40 percent in the previous years.

The tourism industry expects around 600,000 tourist arrivals by the end of the year.

The recent reduction in import duties and the IIFA publicity in India are expected to position Sri Lanka as a regional shopping hub for tourism.

Hotels are gearing to the upsurge in tourism with rapid expansions and refurbishment while investors are getting into acquisitions and merges in the hotel sector.

Ten top companies listed in the hotels and travels sector on the Colombo Stock Exchange will boost the tourism industry in Sri Lanka.

The companies are Aitken Spence Hotels, John Keells Hotels, Asian Hotel and Properties, Taj Lanka Hotels, Ceylon Hotels Corporation, Hotel Services (Ceylon),Royal Palm Beach Hotels, Amaya Leisure, Light House Hotel, The Fortress Resort Plc.