Sri Lanka Tourism to celebrate World Tourism Day 2019 under ‘Tourism and Jobs: A Better Future for All’ theme
Tourism authorities in Sri Lanka have reportedly made arrangements tocelebrate World Tourism Day 2019 with a two-day celebration on the UNWTO’s theme ‘Tourism and Jobs: A Better Future for All.’
Accordingly, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) in association with Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), and Sri Lanka Tourism Hotel and Management Institute (SLITHM) under the purview of Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Ministry has organised a two-day celebration in Colombo and Arugam Bay to draw public attention to the importance of this year’s theme to mark the global event.
The local media has reported that the inauguration ceremony will kick off on 27th September at the Independence Arcade in Colombo followed by an exhibition, a job fair, food street and entertainment.
In addition, the Tourism Study Program Department of Economics of the University of Colombo is to hold its annual Tourism Leaders’ Summit (TLS) and International Tourism Research Conference (ITRC) themed “A way forward for Sustainable Tourism Development’ on 28th September at the BMICH in Colombo to mark the global event while an international surfing competition will also be held in Arugam Bay on the same day.
“Sri Lanka has recovered faster than expected post-Easter Sunday terror attacks and thanks to the global Bohra Convention, we have seen the dividends of it meaningfully reinforcing the tourism industry across the board. I believe this year’s World Tourism Day theme will help promote an industry that creates employment, promotes local culture and products, and nurtures sustainable production and consumption,” Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga has told Daily FT.
Amaratunga has said the authorities were expecting a few UNWTO representatives in Colombo to conduct a Crisis Management Workshop coinciding with World Tourism Day celebrations.
The Minister will be attending the 23rd session of the UNWTO General Assembly this week in St. Petersburg, Russia in his capacity as a Vice President of UNWTO for the South Asian region.
“I will be meeting the officials of UNWTO and will try my best to convince them to be a part of our World Tourism Day celebrations in Colombo,” Amaratunga has noted.
In terms of the International Surfing Competition, the Minister has said they were expecting over 100 participants from around 40 countries. “We are hoping to have over 100 international surfers for the competition and with them their families and friends will also come. Thereby, it will exceed our arrival expectations. In addition, there will also be a lot of foreign media to cover the competition,” Amaratunga has said.
“Looking at the arrival projections for 2019, we hope to get around two million to 2.1 million tourist arrivals as opposed to 2.3 million in 2018. The overall earnings forecast for this year is around US$ 3.5 billion as against US$ 4.4 billion recorded in 2018. Right now, the financial recovery will take a little longer than the volume recovery that we are looking at,” the Minister has added.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has recorded an impressive return to normalcy following the setback suffered in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks in April. Tourist arrivals to the country are on the increase and investments to the tourism industry have also recorded a growth. Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities have also introduced many incentives to tourism stakeholders. Therefore foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/12092019/Z_2 |