SLTDA aims to formalise boutique hotels to handle tourist influx
The Morning: The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) aims to transition informal sector luxury boutique hotels into the formal sector to meet the increasing influx of high-end tourists, in addition to seeking to attract local and foreign investors for new hotel projects or expansions to address the growing demand.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, SLTDA Chairman Priantha Fernando stated: “If markets such as China open up, the tourist inflow will be much greater, alongside the tourism promotional campaigns carried out globally. Therefore, the number of high-end tourists coming to Sri Lanka will increase, while the country will run out of accommodation by 2025.”
He noted that they were on track to achieve their target of 2.3 million tourists for 2024, with expectations of reaching around 2.7 million next year if the current trend persisted.
This anticipated growth suggests that the country is likely to experience spillover benefits in the coming years.
Since the current inventory will prove inadequate by the end of 2025, the SLTDA is addressing the shortfall in room capacity through two approaches.
Firstly, it is engaging with the informal sector, comprising 30,000-35,000 unregistered rooms, aiming to formalise operations within the sector.
Fernando explained that the difference between the informal sector and the formal sector was that the latter’s hotels came under the scrutiny of the SLTDA. Further, they have to maintain quality standards and ensure that they conform with criteria that have been laid down under different categories.
According to the SLTDA, there is an overall threat to the image of the country as a result of the informal sector failing to maintain qualities and standards.
The SLTDA is also focusing on both local and foreign investors through global promotional campaigns. Fernando clarified that they were hoping to attract new investors, both local as well as foreign, to come in to meet the demand.
OSL take:
The steady growth recorded by Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has opened up a host of business/investment opportunities. The growth in the tourism industry has also resulted in the growth in the airport and aviation industries. These opportunities range from the development of infrastructure and supplementary infrastructure facilities required by the growing demand while there’s an expansion in the leisure and hospitality sectors. The increasing number of tourist arrivals to the country and the expanding tourism concepts have resulted in local authorities presenting many new business/investment opportunities for foreign businesses/investors. It is the steady growth in the tourism industry that has resulted in the local authorities also stepping up regulations to ensure the facilities offered to tourists. The growth and business potential in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has not been lost on international leisure and hospitality brands with many such businesses having already entered the country or expressing interest in entering the industry. All these are indicative of the lucrative nature of the country’s tourism industry, which is bound to see a two fold increase in the coming months given the pace of growth of the industry. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore explore the growing business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.