Colombo, Sri Lanka – Devmith Kaggodarachchi’s beachfront resort within the southwestern coastal city of Hikkaduwa, a vacationer hotspot 136km (85 miles) from the capital Colombo, is nearing full capability.
The three-star resort, with air-conditioned rooms and personal balconies trying into the Indian Ocean, is busy serving vacationers visiting for the Christmas season.
That isn’t the way it’s been for Sri Lanka’s tourism trade over the previous 4 years. Vacationer arrivals dropped drastically in 2019 after bombings in three luxurious inns and three church buildings on Easter killed greater than 250 folks. The COVID-19 pandemic hit earlier than Sri Lanka had an opportunity to recuperate.
The nation’s economic and political turmoil in 2022 – when its then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his household needed to flee, and important commodities like gasoline turned nearly inconceivable for on a regular basis folks to safe – additional pushed vacationers away from Sri Lanka.
However a concerted promotional drive to draw international guests, aided by geopolitical tensions unrelated to the nation, seems to lastly be bearing fruit, providing the nation an engine of income that would play a pivotal function in serving to Sri Lanka’s financial system recuperate.
In 2023, Sri Lanka recorded greater than 1.3 million tourist arrivals by the second week of December, official knowledge present. It’s the first time arrivals have crossed the 1 million mark in 4 years. Greater than 150,000 vacationers visited in November, the very best month-to-month tally since March 2020.
“Tourists are trusting us now. After going back to their country, they talk good about us. Business is good at the moment,” Kaggodarachchi advised Al Jazeera. “Our hotel can serve about 150 tourists at a time. At the moment, there are 130”.
Most vacationers who’ve visited this 12 months are from India, which hosted three roadshows selling Sri Lanka’s tourism sector in April.
However the Russian warfare in Ukraine has helped Sri Lanka too. Russia is the second-highest supply of vacationers to the nation this 12 months, at a time Russian vacationers aren’t welcome in lots of different nations.
“There were limitations on countries Russians could visit. They could visit Sri Lanka. We had that advantage,” Sri Lanka Tourism Improvement Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Priantha Fernando advised Al Jazeera.
Encouraging numbers, however larger income wanted
Trade stakeholders say that whereas larger vacationer arrivals are a optimistic signal, there’s a want to draw high-spending vacationers to generate extra income for the financial system.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has additionally urged the tourism sector to enhance its services to cater to high-end vacationers.
From January to November, tourism contributed $1.8bn in revenue – a rise of 78 % in contrast with the identical interval final 12 months. Tourism is Sri Lanka’s third-largest supply of international trade. On common, a vacationer spends $181 every day, in line with authorities knowledge.
Suranga Silva, a professor in tourism economics on the College of Colombo, steered that Sri Lanka may use its uninhabited islands to spice up high-end tourism by providing exclusivity.
“If we can develop our islands as high-end tourist destinations, we can get tourists to spend more than $1000 daily. The service must be worth what they pay,” Silva advised Al Jazeera.
Analysis revealed in 2018 recognized at the least 87 islands in Sri Lankan territory. Many are uncared for and can be utilized to develop vacationer resorts, chook sanctuaries and scenic points of interest, the analysis discovered.
“Only luxury hotels aren’t enough. Tourists should be given a valuable tour package including domestic charter flights to take them to these locations,” Silva stated.
In 2021, the World Financial Discussion board ranked Sri Lanka 74th amongst 117 international locations on its Journey and Tourism Improvement Index, which measures elements and insurance policies that allow the event of the journey and tourism sector.
“Right now, there is no advantage for any foreign investor to invest in Sri Lanka,” Fernando, the tourism authority chairperson, conceded. “These are the things we have to look at and come up with policies that will facilitate greater investment.”
“I feel it will be 2029 by the time we receive 5 million tourists, of which half at least spend $500 a day”.
‘Don’t kill the goose that lays golden eggs’
However at the same time as Colombo promotes the nation’s tourism internationally, many companies within the sector worry that the federal government is on the identical time weakening their potential to compete for international travellers.
From January 2024, the Sri Lankan authorities will carry an exemption on value-added tax (VAT), which it had prolonged to tourism operators in 2020.
“Our industry generates foreign exchange revenue quickly. So, our request is to exempt us from VAT,” Rohan Abeywickrama, the president of the Affiliation of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism, advised Al Jazeera.
Sri Lanka’s parliament lately voted to extend VAT from 15 to 18 %, including to the considerations of the sector.
That’s to satisfy tax assortment targets agreed with the Worldwide Financial Fund which is providing the federal government a $2.9bn bailout package deal to tide over the nation’s worst financial disaster since independence.
Companies catering to vacationers are already paying a Tourism Improvement Levy, Revenue Tax and Turnover Tax.
“When all these taxes are imposed on us, our production costs go up. So we become an expensive tourist destination,” Abeywickrama, an trade veteran who can also be on the federal government’s tourism advisory committee, stated.
“Tourism is driven by the private sector and is important to generate revenue. So the government must protect us and encourage us to remain in business. They shouldn’t kill the goose that lays golden eggs”.
The tourism sector can also be asking the federal government to offer reduction on their mounting debt and the a number of electrical energy and water tariff hikes imposed since final 12 months.
Tour operators and safari four-wheel drive drivers say they should put up with outdated automobiles as the federal government banned automobile imports in early 2020 to manage greenback outflows.
“The vehicle fleet is over 15 to 20 years old, which is a challenge with more breakdowns and high cost of repairs,” Nishad Wijetunga, the president of the Sri Lanka Affiliation of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO), advised Al Jazeera.
“Vehicle imports have not been allowed for the sector in spite of making requests and having discussions with the authorities”.
Mind drain
The mass migration of Sri Lankans to different international locations in quest of jobs has additionally damage the tourism trade.
Greater than 280,000 Sri Lankans, together with 78,000 expert employees and almost 16,900 professionals, have migrated this 12 months, in line with figures obtained by Al Jazeera from the Sri Lanka Bureau of International Employment.
Expert employees make up lower than 40 % of the tourism sector, the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Resort Administration (SLITHM), the capacity-building arm of Sri Lanka Tourism, has stated.
To create expert workers and retain them, the institute is conducting coaching programmes that require members to work within the native hospitality sector for a 12 months to obtain their certification.
“Since we are investing in the training, we are bringing in a payback component, which is they have to work in the country to receive the certification,” SLITHM Chairman Shirantha Peiris stated final month.
‘Optimistic for 2024’
Nonetheless, a buoyant Sri Lankan tourism authority is focusing on 2.3 million vacationer arrivals and $4.6bn in income subsequent 12 months.
To realize this, the nation has launched its first international tourism advertising and marketing marketing campaign in 16 years, beneath the tagline “You Will Come Back For More”.
“We have identified nine tourist markets in which our digital marketing campaigns will be strengthened next year. We will also be getting vloggers and influencers to visit our country and produce promotional content,” Fernando stated.
In late October, the federal government introduced it can difficulty free vacationer visas to guests from seven international locations, together with China, India and Russia. This initiative, launched as a pilot venture, will run till March 31, 2024.
Many vacationers are already satisfied.
In Mount Lavinia, a suburb of Colombo, 29-year-old Spanish nationwide Guillem Fox was strolling alongside the seashore along with his French accomplice Mathilde Flachot.
“We will be travelling around the country, visiting wildlife sanctuaries, the tea plantations and maybe try out surfing in the south,” Fox advised Al Jazeera. The couple plan to remain for a couple of month. “From the moment we arrived, the people have been really helpful,” he stated.
“That’s a really nice feeling.”
