tourism in sri lanka pdf

This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser. To learn more about cookies, click here .

Tuesday, 22 Jan 2019 --> Last Updated : 2024-06-06 16:15:00

Group News Sites

Sunday Times

Tamil Mirror

Middleast Lankadeepa

Life Online

Home delivery

Advertise with us

Mobile Apps

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 Today's Paper

Sri Lanka fails to cross 900,000 milestone in tourist arrivals end May

5 June 2024 02:02 am - 14     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A group of tourists viewing paintings displayed by local artists down Greenpath in Colombo - Pic by Kushan Pathiraja

By Nishel Fernando 

Sri Lanka failed to cross the 900,000 milestone in tourist arrivals in the five month period ended in May, as the country trailed the arrival target by 13 percent or 133,983 arrivals at the end of the month. 

In May, tourist arrivals to island nation jumped by 34 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) to 112,128 tourists.  However, Sri Lanka missed the target set by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) for the month by 14.4 percent or 18,984 arrivals in the month.

Accordingly, the country failed to cross the 900,000 arrival milestone as predicted by the authorities. In the five-month period, Sri Lanka welcomed 896,779 tourists falling behind the target of 1.03 million tourists in the period. 

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Priantha Fernando earlier expressed confidence on crossing 900,000 tourist arrivals at end of May. 

In May, daily average tourist arrivals plummeted to 3617 when compared to 4967 arrivals in the previous month as the off-season kicked in. 

India accounted for 28.8 percent of the tourist arrivals in the month as United Kingdom and Maldives clinched second and third spots with a 7.2 percent share in arrivals each. China and Germany were the fourth and fifth largest source markets in the month accounting for 6.7 percent arrivals in the month each.

Russia fell to seventh spot after occupying top three spots consecutively in recent months which is likely due to loss of charter flights from Russia this summer due to higher prices stemming from increased hotel charges and higher landing charges at Mattala International Airport. However, the Cabinet of Ministers recently decided to award a joint venture consisting of Indian and Russian firms to manage the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport.

So far during the year, Sri Lanka failed to meet the tourist arrivals target set by SLTDA. From January to May period, Sri Lanka missed the tourist arrival targets by 13.9 percent, 8.4 percent, 11.4 percent, 18.5 percent and 14.4 percent respectively. However, the SLTDA so far hasn’t shared any intentions to revise the arrival target for the year and remains confident of crossing 2.3 million arrivals for the year.

SLTDA Chief Fernando recently urged the government to grant the proposed visa-free travel policy for 67 countries in order to meet mid to long term tourism ambitions. Meanwhile, Thailand most recently became the latest country in  expanding  visa free travel  to woo tourists. Thailand now allows visa free travel from 93 countries, including Sri Lanka.

  Comments - 14

Shera Wednesday, 05 June 2024 09:05 AM

It's not going to get better unless things change drastically. Visa fee increase is a big turn off as are the recent cases of abuse and harassment of foreign visitors. Visitors are also constantly cheated by taxi and tuk tuk drivers. No one wants their vacation ruined with such unpleasant incidents and inconveniences.

Reply 0       0 0       0 -->

Terrence K Wednesday, 05 June 2024 09:06 AM

All statistics are mere numbers and when there is failure always ways and means are developed to overcome this because there is a concentrated drive to achieve the target but when victory comes everything comes to a standstill with all people resting on their laurels. So numbers are just an indicator but it should be borne in mind what is necessary is to have the correct ATTITUDE and untiring efforts in times of failure for the plan in numbers will change and we could see results much more than what was anticipated!!!!!!!

Moron Wednesday, 05 June 2024 09:07 AM

dont worry, Floods

Citizen k Wednesday, 05 June 2024 09:28 AM

We have competent people in Sri Lanka ,why do we always award foreign companies?The answer is obvious.

lionel Wednesday, 05 June 2024 10:28 AM

Even blind Freddy can understand what is wrong. The massive visa fees, extremely high entrance fees to places of interest, very very poor facilities at major transport hubs, no real entertainment hubs for tourists to hang around (look at Thailand etc) are big turn offs. You can only market green hills, and elephants so much. Tourists need much more than that. What the corrupt politicians and public servants are interested in is making a buck for their own benefit. They do not even have simple intelligence to understand you can get three four times of what you loose in visa fees by scraping it. Unfortunately, no one, I mean no one, in SL will listen. Look no further. SL will never change.

Ahmed Wednesday, 05 June 2024 11:01 AM

What else we can expect after increasing visa fee on tourists ? Why would a tourist select Sri Lanka paying expensive visa fees when he have enough visa free destinations to travel in this world?

Dominic Letranche, France Wednesday, 05 June 2024 11:10 AM

I am an homosexual and my husband and I would like to visit Sri Lanka, but we all know about the backwarded mentality and violence against the LGBT community and women. We are married for almost 20 years.

Ahmed Wednesday, 05 June 2024 04:07 PM

You better stay where you are. Saving the younger generation of Sri Lanka from LGBT culture is more important than money and tourism. It's ok to loose a tourist like you

Reply : 0       0 -->

Name Wednesday, 05 June 2024 10:34 PM

Unfortunately this is true. However, the younger generation in cities are less discriminatory against LGBT people. But it's still a small pool of people. If you still want to visit Sri Lanka the safest way to enjoy your experience is to pretend to be straight, but honestly safer if you avoid Sri Lanka altogether.

Sandra Wagner Wednesday, 05 June 2024 11:31 AM

Well no surprise just increase the visa fees more and have foreigners paying more to sites where sometimes they are so ripped off even experienced in trains. Learn how to grow and have a long term vision instead of just focusing of short money. See what other nations do e.g. Thailand, Mauritius, and many more. They have the facilities for tourism and know how to treat them. Lucky not all Sri Lankans are like this and the nation is in fact a beautiful one with many nice people.

Ron Wednesday, 05 June 2024 11:47 AM

Sri lanka is a beautitful country its a paradise its self unfortunately people that are in most of important sectors high officials are the biggest failures due to lack in experince professionalism country with somuch potential must benifit compare with somany other countries that have very less natural beauty and history doing we'll sri lanka need to find proper directions to explore the beauty and all other attractions In difrent ways with possitive approach to attract many tourist around the globe we must get behind in all asspects to explore and experience like no other..beauty of travel expo

Danny Wednesday, 05 June 2024 12:10 PM

Blame the Visa process. In London there is big queue outside a small travel agency. All are Sri Lankan diaspore to take photographs and apply for SL visa! They say, it is a cumbersome process and so help needed and paying for this. Earlier with VFS, Indian Visa applicants had the same issue and now the Indian government made it simple via online. The same VFS, arrived in SL and messing things up. Soon we will see!

Traveler John Wednesday, 05 June 2024 01:55 PM

When the winter is over in the west, people do prefer stay in their own country and enjoy the Spring and Summer. If you do not have a basic knowledge of the traveling pattern of the westerners, you will end up crying like this.

Taoufik Hedfi Wednesday, 05 June 2024 03:49 PM

The reason why Sri Lanka is getting less tourists is the greed of the hoteliers. I used to be a regular visitor to Sri Lanka paying about £150 for the Sri villas in Merissa, now the same room cost £ 287 a night. The same goes for Galle where some hotels charges about £600 a night, which three times more than pre COVID and crisis. I now personally go to Kerala and have lovely accommodation and holidays for a fraction of what I would pay in Sri Lanka.

Add comment Comments will be edited (grammar, spelling and slang) and authorized at the discretion of Daily Mirror online. The website also has the right not to publish selected comments.

Name - Reply Comment

RECOMMENDED

Matara hospital rocks parents’ world misplacing stillborn

Did BASL misappropriate monies sent by JICA for anti-corruption programme?

Proposed wage hike Estate workers appreciated or trapped in election promise?

Partially blind acid attack victim believes he’ll see again

When Sanjaya Sandaruwan awoke on the morning of October 18, 2010, the world l

‘Spike in blast fishing’ poses renewed threats to Sri Lanka’s marine ecosystems

In 2020, six people from Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India were arrested by the R

UDA owned land in Thalawathugoda; UDA Minister Prasanna Ranatunga under the spotlight for forceful occupation of reserved land

For a long time, accusations have been made against Urban Development and Hou

Loss-making SMIB faces political pressure in recovering loans

The state-run loss-making State Mortgage & Investment Bank (SMIB) has reveale

Most Viewed in News

Thailand approves visa-free travel for sri lankan tourists.

PM Modi resigns

Top Island ranks in GCE A/L

Cement prices drop by Rs.150

Live updates : Adverse weather - 10 persons killed, 5 missing

GCE (A/L) results to be released by Monday

MIRROR CRICKET

ICC stands firm on New York despite India pitch fears

15 minute ago - 0     - 131

Stoinis shines as Australia cruise past Oman in T20 opener

6 hours ago - 0     - 251

'Doesn’t get more special' - Uganda celebrate first win

7 hours ago - 1     - 317

India beat Ireland by eight wickets in T20 World Cup

05 Jun 2024 - 4     - 435

TODAY'S HEADLINES

Prabha’s brother slams section of tamil diaspora for cheating tamils.

9 hours ago

State Minister says 15,000 families in earth slip prone areas advised to abandon homes

Hiv/aids on the rise 200+ cases, 13 deaths in first quarter, suspect harassing child arrested.

06 Jun 2024

15 minute ago

Uganda Players Celebrate Their First T20 World Cup Win With Special Victory Dance

1 hours ago

6 hours ago

7 hours ago

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Tourism in Sri Lanka

Fernando, S., Bandara, J. S., & Smith, C. (2017). Tourism in Sri Lanka. In M. C. Hall & S. J. Page (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Tourism in Asia (pp. 251-264). Abingdon,Oxon, UK: Routledge.

Related Papers

Clement Tisdell

General background is provided on the potential of tourism growth to contribute to economic development, paying particular attention to the experience of Sri Lanka. An overview of trends in inbound tourism to Sri Lanka is presented with particular consideration being given to its number of inbound tourist arrivals. Sri Lanka’s comparative position in international tourism markets, the composition of its tourist arrivals by area of origin, the extent of foreign earnings by the Sri Lankan tourism industry and variations in the amount of these earnings, and the extent of employment generation by this industry are examined. Regional aspects of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka are given special consideration, and this is followed by a report on the regional economic impact of tourism of Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. This major tourist attraction near the edge of the Western Highlands of Sri Lanka is shown to make a significant contribution to economic decentralisation. A general discussion follows of tourism development in the Sri Lankan context. The main factors that have hindered tourism growth in Sri Lanka and its decentralisation are considered. Indications are that major impediment posed by civil disturbance and terrorism is at an end in Sri Lanka.

Sriyantha Fernando

After the end of nearly three decades long civil war in 2009, Sri Lanka is experiencing a tourism boom with a record level of international tourist arrivals. The Sri Lankan government has now identified tourism as a main component in its post-war development strategy. Despite this new policy enthusiasm there is dearth of research on tourism in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to contribute to the literature on tourism in Sri Lanka in a number of ways. First, it provides a systematic historical narrative on Sri Lankan tourism and explains how Sri Lanka missed opportunities in the past. Second, it develops a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model focusing on tourism and constructs a database with an emphasis on tourism. Third, it examines the economy-wide effects of the post-war tourism boom in Sri Lanka.

Journal of Business and Technology

Sri Lanka has an ability to become one of the best tourism countries (TCs) in Asia. However, it missed opportunities on a number of occasions due to inappropriate economic policies, continuous political violence and wars. Since 1983 the Sri Lankan tourism sector was seriously affected by the nearly three decades of separatist war which ended in May 2009. Immediately after the end of war tourism in Sri Lanka bounced back and it now has become the engine of economic growth in post war Sri Lanka. In this paper, a historical analysis has been undertaken to demonstrate how Sri Lanka miss matched their development strategies in terms of tourism, although the country had potential to attract record number of tourists. The postwar tourism boom has given Sri Lankans and the Sri Lankan tourism sector new hopes and optimism. This paper demonstrates that the Sri Lankan tourism sector has potential and opportunities to play a vital role in the postwar inclusive development strategy in terms of generating much needed foreign exchange, poverty alleviation via employment generation, accelerating economic growth and uplifting living standards of all Sri Lankans.

Herath Madana Bandara

Sri Lankan tourism has managed to recover quickly since the end of war in 2009. After recognising the role of postwar tourism, the Sri Lankan government has launched a Tourism Development Strategy (TDS) plan. Sri Lanka Tourism is confident that the new strategic direction will move the country forward as a most sought travel destination in Asia while all stakeholders of the industry reap its benefits. This study evaluated the postwar tourism boom and the targets of Sri Lankan government's TDS and empirically explored the targets set in the TDS by using a simple econometric model. The econometric analysis suggests that tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka would increase by 21.5 per cent per year if the peaceful environment continues in Sri Lanka. There are a number of impediments to be recognised in achieving the targets set out TDS. It is clear that within the next few years, tourism industry will become a sustainable sector in the Sri Lankan economy being the top GDP contributor within next few years.

Srilal Miththapala

TSri Lanka tourism is yet again going through severe crisis. But this time the crisis is multi-faceted and of unprecedented proportions. Many service providers are barely managing to survive with several expected to ‘go under’ in the next few months. However tourism is one of the main sources of the much needed direct foreign exchange earning industries in the country. Hence it stands to reason that reviving the industry should be one of the government’s primary strategies by providing some relief to the providers. However at the same time there is a crying need to reach out and provide support to many needy poor families with some form of subsidy and help. With desperately limited resources which should the government chose?

Prabhasri Dumidu Akuranga

Tourism is the fastest growing industry in the world. Tourism in a destination is an amalgamation of inputs in economic, social, cultural and environmental resources. It is multi faceted and could not find a uniformed global structure but the structure is unique from country to another. Tourism could be define as one element of leisure. Internet facilities made the world smaller. Online reservation and searching systems for Hotel accommodation, air tickets and almost for everything minimized the time constrains for a traveler to plan his whole journey by his own. The number of tourists traveled over last 20 years made a business in total nearly 5 billion a year and every year 650 million tourists checked in to hotels, resorts , villas all over the world. It should be mentioned that the rapid development of the Information technology is one of the main reasons to today's fast paced tourism growth.

Chair Professor Lalith Edirisinghe

RELATED PAPERS

Ken Pennington

Azri Damian

SpringerReference

Bertrand Tuan

Journal of Medicine

Abdur Rahim

Physical Review A

Ivaylo Ivanov

The American Journal of Pathology

Sử Học Nguyễn

2019 34th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE)

Thaíris Granzotto

IEEE Security & Privacy

Jim Alves-Foss

Gautam Pant

Creativity theory and action in education

Liane Gabora

Yupika Maryansyah

OECD Development Centre Working Papers

Mojmir Mrak

Steven Gurley

做波士顿大学毕业证 bu毕业证本科学历证书学费清单原版一模一样

Human Mutation

Maria Margarida Venâncio

Physical Review B

Martha Greenblatt

Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization

Ahmad Aburizaiza

Proceedings of the 12th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments

Zoe Katsarou

Mathematical Modelling of Engineering Problems

Sandra Pinelas

Scandinavian Journal of Clinical and Laboratory Investigation

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Sri Lanka Tourism Hosts Travel Agents for Buddhist Pilgrim Tours and Buddhist Influencers for Vesak 2024

June, 5, 2024 -->

In a bid to boost pilgrim tourism, Sri Lanka Tourism invited prominent outbound travel agents and ten leading Buddhist media influencers from India to participate in an exclusive B2B networking session and immersive cultural experience during the Vesak celebrations. The event commenced on the 22 nd of May 2024 at the Hotel Ramada Colombo, aiming to strengthen ties between local and international travel agents and to showcase the spiritual and cultural richness of Sri Lanka.

The delegation's visit kicks off with a comprehensive networking session designed to foster collaboration and enhance the network between Sri Lankan travel agencies and their counterparts. This initiative is a strategic move to promote pilgrim tours, highlighting Sri Lanka as a premier destination for Buddhist travelers.

On May 23 rd , the delegation participated at the revered lighting ceremony at the iconic Gangaramaya Temple. This event was a cornerstone of the Vesak celebration, offering a profound insight into Sri Lanka's spiritual heritage and cultural traditions. The lighting ceremony is a visually stunning and spiritually uplifting event that symbolizes enlightenment and peace, providing the guests with a firsthand experience of the island's vibrant Vesak festivities.

Following the Vesak celebration, the delegation embarked on a Familiarization Tour starting from May 24 th . This tour covered the significant Buddhist temples across the country, allowing the guests to explore and appreciate the historical and spiritual significance of these sacred sites. Key stops on the tour included the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, the ancient city of Anuradhapura, and the Dambulla Cave Temple.

The primary objective of this program is to showcase Sri Lanka's rich cultural heritage and spiritual ambiance, thereby encouraging an increase in pilgrim tour arrivals. By providing an immersive experience of the Vesak celebration and the country's revered Buddhist sites, Sri Lanka Tourism aims to highlight the unique offerings that make the island a must-visit destination for Buddhist pilgrims.

Sri Lanka Tourism believes that this initiative will not only enhance the visibility of Sri Lanka's cultural and spiritual treasures but also foster stronger business relationships and collaborative opportunities between travel agents from both countries. The collaboration is expected to result in a significant boost in tourist arrivals, contributing to the growth and development of the country's tourism sector.

Sri Lanka stands ready to welcome international visitors, showcasing its timeless traditions and unparalleled hospitality. This initiative marks a significant step towards positioning Sri Lanka as a leading destination for Buddhist pilgrimage and cultural tourism.

Latest TV News Bulletin

Video Story

Latest News

• Official Re-launch of Singhagiri.lk Online Store
• Approval Granted for “Starlink” to Provide Satellite-Based Internet Services in Sri Lanka
• During the import ban 44,000 vehicles came into the market
• Hiran Cooray Calls for Government Review of Visa Processing Decision
• NDB Champions Youth Empowerment in Partnership with Royal Rugby and the Bradby Shield

Stock Market

Exchange rates.

Ada Derana Biz