Just a few months after the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Board won the “Best Tourist Board” at the World Tourism Awards 2024, Sri Lanka has notched up another accolade, this time from the prestigious Wanderlust magazine and website. The magazine’s readers have overwhelmingly voted for Sri Lanka as the “Most Desirable Island in the World”, taking the Pearl of the Indian Ocean from last year’s 8th place all the way to the top this year. Judging by the quality and beauty of the other contenders – Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Tobago, Tasmania, Bermuda, Cuba, Barbados, Madagascar and Palawan, this is no easy feat.
Among the other publications that recently extolled Sri Lanka’s virtues are Travel+Leisure, Forbes, Daily Express UK, Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveller, Delicious, Daily Mail UK, Tempo (which termed Sri Lanka as the “Ultimate Tropical Paradise” in its own top 10 best places to visit), Luxury Lifestyle, The Independent UK, The Herald Scotland, The Times UK and Escape Magazine.
300 Km Pekoe Trail
One reason for Sri Lanka’s spectacular rise in the global tourism rankings was the recent introduction of the 300 Km Pekoe Trail that meanders through the hilly terrains of Central Sri Lanka, offering a trek through sleepy villages, verdant tea plantations and lush greenery. Pekoe (named after a variety of tea) has already become one of the top 10 hiking trails of the world, even before it is fully complete. Combine it with the magnificent train ride from Kandy to Ella, itself one of the top 10 train rides in the world and you have the perfect recipe for a great holiday. But perhaps the most important factor is Sri Lankans’ genuine warmth, love and hospitality. Most tourists cite our friendly people as one of their main reasons for visiting Sri Lanka.
This, in a nutshell, is what makes Sri Lanka unique. It offers everything a discerning traveller wants in a compact 65,610 Sq Km island (roughly the size of aforementioned Tasmania), from beaches to jungles to ruins. The country’s tourism industry has made a remarkable comeback, despite being battered by three major crises – the Easter Sunday attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2022 economic crisis. Around 1.5 million tourists have already visited our shores this year, in spite of a recent travel advisory for the Arugam Bay area which has now been rescinded. The Government’s decision to issue free on arrival visas to travellers from 35 countries also helped.
This was a timely decision, given that several countries in Asia and Africa – which are all competitors for tourist dollars – threw their doors wide open to tourists. Thailand recently expanded its visa-free entry facility to 93 nations including Sri Lanka. While Sri Lanka is faltering in its efforts to attract 2.5 million tourists this year, Thailand through this measure aims to attract a staggering 40 million tourists. Malaysia, Vietnam, Kenya, Rwanda and Cambodia too have introduced e-visas for all nationalities. Burundi, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Maldives, Micronesia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Samoa, Seychelles, Timor-Leste, and Tuvalu offer visa-free access to all 198 passports of the world. Openness matters in the business of tourism.
Sri Lanka is not the only grain of sand on the tourist beach. If our visa process becomes too expensive or even too time-consuming, tourists will head elsewhere. On the other hand, if it is streamlined and affordable (or free), more tourists will click their mouse and choose Sri Lanka as the next holiday destination. Once they experience Sri Lanka, they will surely “come back for more”, which happens to be the motto of Sri Lanka Tourism.
More facilities needed
If the present rates of tourist arrivals continue, Sri Lanka will need more inbound airline seats. There are several positive developments in this regard. Some airlines, such as Cathay Pacific and Thai Airways, which halted operations at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, have returned to Colombo. Sri Lanka’s aviation and tourism officials should encourage all operators to increase the number of flights and airlines such as Air France, Qantas, JAL, ANA, Virgin Atlantic, BA, Korean, Biman and Akasa to launch direct flights to Colombo. They should attend global “route shops” where airline representatives look for lucrative new routes.
Since tourist hotels earn foreign exchange for the country, it would be prudent to grant them (and also “special tours” bus operators) duty free permits to import electric cars and buses for the transport of tourists on the condition that they also import DC superchargers or solar chargers. A duty concession can be granted for this as well. This also tallies with the environmental goals envisaged for global tourism.
Since it is also important to ensure an adequate supply of food for the tourists in the face of an impending global food crisis (exacerbated by the Ukraine War), all hotels with arable land must be encouraged to grow crops that can sustain their kitchens. We can look at other countries which have introduced new concepts such as rooftop and vertical farming as well as hydroponics, the technique of growing crops without soil. Most hotels can easily embrace these concepts. Hotels should also have a more robust relationship with the local farmers and suppliers so that they nurture the local economy.
Arugam Bay also opened our eyes to the need to protect tourists at all times. Things have to start from the BIA itself, where touts often harass tourists for everything from taxi rides to hotel stays. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake alluded to this pestering problem in one of his recent speeches. In fact, touts, beggars, unlicensed tour guides and brokers harass tourists at all major tourist attractions, which could put off some of them from coming here again. After all, repeat tourists are a big market for Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan tourism authorities also have to rethink the admissions pricing policy at key tourism attractions, where tourists sometimes have to pay as much as 10 times the rate paid by local tourists.
This may adversely affect budget tourists and in today’s context we need every Dollar. It is better to have one “middle of the road” pricing policy for both foreigners and locals. It is also vital to have more Tourist Police stations near key attractions and also in the major cities visited by tourists.
This way, tourists can get help quickly if they are harassed, fleeced, intimidated or robbed. All the personnel of Tourist Police must be encouraged to learn at least one more language in addition to English, such as French, German, Spanish and Russian. This will help them to communicate more easily with the tourists, some of whom cannot speak English well.
Promotional campaign
There is also an acute need for enhancing the international tourism promotional campaign through traditional and social media globally to highlight our religious, cultural and natural attractions that are perhaps not found anywhere else on the planet.
SriLankan Airlines’ Ramayana Trail promotional clip, which has gone viral on social media, is a great example for a campaign done right.
This is likely to attract more visitors from India.
Journalists from leading travel publications in our source markets as well as from new markets should be given familiarisation tours here so that they will inform their readers and viewers on the array of attractions here. That will help the industry to realise the initial goal of 2.5 million tourists per year perhaps by next year, giving a new sense of purpose and direction to the tourism industry, perhaps the most vital cog in the economic wheel in terms of attracting foreign exchange.
There is also a need for the Government and the tourism sector stakeholders to work together to develop new attractions. The best example in this regard is Singapore, where even the Changi International Airport, especially the Jewel section, has become a tourist attraction in its own right. Gardens by the Bay, a set of artificial trees that mimic nature, is another hit. Mandai Wildlife Group, the operators of Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Wonders and Bird Paradise, are planning to add an “Asia and Africa” section next year to showcase unique animals from the two regions.
It will also unveil the Mandai Rainforest Resort, operated by Banyan Tree, Singapore’s first-ever super low energy (SLE) resort. We can learn from these initiatives to develop new attractions and also revamp our existing attractions such as the National Museum, which can have audio and video descriptions, audio tours and other interactive enhancements. Just having exhibits behind glass walls does not cut it anymore. Other countries are trying new ways to lure tourists and we should not lag behind.
Domestic tourists
The tourism industry should also not lose sight of the importance of domestic tourists who sustained it during the (literally) dark days of 2022. More facilities that target domestic tourists must be built. In fact, whenever there was a dip in foreign tourists, it was the locals who patronised hotels and guest houses to keep the home fires of thousands of workers in the hotel and travel industry burning. Unfortunately, there have been verified reports of “hotel apartheid” whereby the owners and managers of certain hotels and guest houses do not allow locals to use certain facilities. Legal action should be taken against any such establishment.
While most tourists who come to Sri Lanka enjoy their holidays and then go back to their home countries, there are some tourists from far and near who overstay their visas. This issue has come to the fore with the Arugam Bay development. It has been reported that some tourists own and operate various guesthouses and other businesses on both the Southern and Eastern coasts without having any residential status in Sri Lanka. Worse, they apparently do not even allow locals to enter their establishments.
The authorities must probe these allegations and take appropriate action, perhaps in consultation with the relevant embassies. All travellers with expired visas must be deported.
But we must also realise that there are many “digital nomads” who would like to work from Sri Lanka. A separate long-term visa category must be established for digital nomads, investors and others who might have legitimate reasons to take up residence here. This is a worldwide trend and we should not build unnecessary walls. Ours is an interconnected world and we should make the best of it.
