Sri Lanka tourism will achieve a ‘historic double’ in terms of revenue and number of arrivals for 2024 and the year will go down in history as the best year for tourism, said Director General, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), B.H.R. Sariffodeen.
He said they were targeting around two million arrivals and with the July and end of the year (winter season) numbers showing high growth they will pass the 2.3 million mark.
“As anticipated the month of April, May and June is the low season along with the forthcoming October. But all other months including August (for the Kandy pageant) will show high arrivals.”
He said that Sri Lanka has now attracted 806,698 tourists from 1 to 5 May recording 22,047 with India and Russia being the top two markets.
He said that they have already achieved USD. 1.5 billion Revenue up to the end of April 2024 and they hope this will climb up to around USD 5 billion by end 2024 making it the second highest forex generator for Sri Lanka.
Asked if the recent Visa on arrival issue was a concern he said it was, but now since it’s revoked there would not be any negative impact. “Our marketing team has also cleared ‘any bad patches’ in this regard successfully.”
He said the removal of the minimum room rate at the end of this month too would be good for tourism.
Director General SLTDA Upali Ratnayake highlighting the importance of tourism to the nation’s economy said the expected surge in tourist arrivals are increasing visitor facilities and services.
“Notably, there has been a rise in the number of travelers utilising train services, particularly to destinations in the Upcountry and down south. However, this has also presented opportunities for incidents such as thefts and recognising these challenges, the Tourist Police, with its extensive branch network, has been proactive in assisting tourists and ensuring their safety.”
“One recent success story includes the recovery of a valuable mobile phone belonging to a US lady tourist within 24 hours.”
“This accomplishment underscores the effectiveness of the Tourist Police’s surveillance and intervention mechanisms and we have also deployed civil officers who are now collaborating with railway security officers to travel on trains, actively safeguarding the belongings of guests,” said SSP Tourist Police, Pradeep Ratnayake.
“We have also introduced a Police hotline in 1912 to accommodate these inquiries.”
Meanwhile the US citizen Anne Kotkova, a solo female traveler, highly commended the swift manner in which they took action to find her phone in less than 24 hours. “In some countries I don’t even see a Tourist Police; in Sri Lanka they are visible every time and are very active.”
SLAITO thanks Tourism Minister
The Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) thanked the Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando for going out of his way to reintroduce the old 30-day Visa system which was changed on May 1 and was effective for a belief period creating a huge controversy.
SLAITO member and Chairman Theme Resorts, Chandra Wickremesinghe said that under the new system that was introduced, even children had to pay for visas and visitors from seven countries that were offered free visa on arrival, too had to a pay service fee.
“When bringing large groups it was very difficult to obtain the services which were for a brief period.”
SLAITO President Nishad Wijetunga also praised the Minister for mediating to solve this issue without delay.
Shirajiv Sirimane
