Sri Lanka to ink $100 million ADB loan agreement for tourism development projects
Daily FT: The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the signing of loan agreements to secure a $ 100 million facility from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support a new tourism field development programme.
The funding package includes two components: A $ 70 million policy-based loan and an investment-focused loan grant, to strengthen both regulatory and infrastructure aspects of the country’s tourism sector.
Speaking at the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing, Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said under the investment component, the initiative will focus on enhancing tourism’s contribution to regional economies, improving accessibility and travel capacity in key destinations such as Trincomalee and Dambulla (including the Sigiriya area), regulating tourism traffic and promoting extended visitor stays.
He said the Urban Development, Construction, and Housing Ministry has been designated as the implementing agency and executing authority for the projects under this initiative.
“The Government expects the initiative to not only upgrade infrastructure, but also increase the sector’s competitiveness, attract more visitors and support long-term growth in tourism earnings,” he added.
The joint proposal was tabled by Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Minister Vijitha Herath and Urban Development, Construction and Housing Minister Aruna Karunathilake.
OSL take:
The steady growth recorded by Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has resulted in its further expansion through tourism development projects that are aimed at the development of infrastructure and supplementary infrastructure required to meet the expanding tourism concepts as well as the increasing demand. These tourism development projects present many business/investment opportunities while the pledging of funds for them by multilateral foreign donor agencies indicate the growth potential of the industry as well. With Sri Lanka being identified as a must visit tourist destination by many leading travel publications and influencers while local authorities are also focused on increasing the tourism concepts presented to foreign travelers to Sri Lanka, the business/investment opportunities in the tourism industry also expands to related sectors as well. Thereby creating more business/investment opportunities. The increasing business potential in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is also not on foreign businesses with many leading international leisure and hospitality brands showing interest in entering Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. Given all these positive developments, foreign businesses/investors could confidently explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and related sectors.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20250924/Z_3 |