Sri Lanka’s tourism sector targets USD 7billion income by 2020
The country’s three year “Tourism Strategic Plan2017-2020” has the potential to become Sri Lanka’s main foreign exchange generator, targeting an income of USD 7 billion by 2020, according to Tourism Ministry officials.
The plan aims to ensure that 600,000 Sri Lankans will be employed by both the industry and its supporting industries with a 10% increase in the female workforce. In 2016 the industry created approximately 155,096 direct and 201,195 indirect jobs.
According to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), daily spending per tourist has increased from the wartime USD 90 to USD 168 as of now, and under the plan it is expected to increase to a further USD 210 by 2020.
In 2016 the tourism industry generated an income over USD 3.5 billion with a 71.29% annual occupancy rate in tourist hotels, with Tourism Minister John Amaratunga confident of reaching 2.5 million tourist arrivals by the end of 2017.
Though the industry was riddled with impediments in 2017 that halted effective promotional campaigns and problems within SriLankan Airlines in addition to cancelling flight schedules from key tourism benefitting destinations, Amaratunga assured that promotional campaigning will rigorously be implemented by the end of the year.
Sri Lanka’s current top 10 tourist markets are Australia, China, France, Germany, India, the Maldives,the Netherlands, UK, US andRussia, withChina and the Maldives indicating negative growth rates compared to 2016.
OSL TAKE:
The objective of the SLTDA is to position the country as “… the world’s finest island for memorable, authentic and diverse experiences” – hence the sector will provide ample opportunity for enterprising individuals to set-up innovative tourist ventures that will attract the discerning traveller.
Further, the objectives cited under the Tourism Strategic Plan 2017-2020 will mean that regulatory provisions will facilitate innovation, investment and expansion.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/25082017/Z_5 |