Tourism in Sri Lanka

8/14/2019 Tourism in Sri Lanka

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2009-12.The strategy plan includes incentives to foreign and domestic investors andspeedy investment facilitation to attract 1.5 million tourists per annum , if peace prevails

by 20161. While the 2005 policy framework talks of making tourism the third largest

foreign exchange earner, the strategy plan envisages it to be the largest foreign exchangeearner. Its vision for Sri Lanka Tourism says it wants to make the country one of the

foremost tourism destinations of Asia, benefiting all stake holders of the tourism industryand the people of Sri Lanka. Every citizen of the country, the vision says, must play theirpart, however small, to make Sri Lanka the Asian tourism icon.

To achieve its vision, the Government of Sri Lanka has received huge funds as donations

from international donors for developing the tourism sector of the country. The JapaneseBank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has given USD 30 Million as a donation to

develop tourism in Negombo , Nuwara Ealia , Kandy , Sigiriya and Dambulla. USD 20

million has been donated by the World Bank under its country assistance strategy todevelop massive tourism projects in Bentota and Kalpitiya. The Government has also set

up a Tourism Development Fund to fund all tourism initiatives by different governmental

agencies to boost tourism.

The Sri Lankan government has declared 2011 as the ‘Visit Sri Lanka Year’. It has

launched a USD 20 million massive advertisement campaign internationally to attract

international tourists to the country. However, the catch phrase, “Sri Lanka: SmallMiracle,” is yet to hit tourism markets in a big way internationally, perhaps as a result of

economic recession or still not withdrawn travel advisories in the West. But if one has to

believe the official statistics, the country shows a very positive trend in terms of tourismrevenue. Sri Lanka receives approximately 500,000 visitors each year and the sector

forms nearly 3% of the USD 40 billion economy. With the projection of 20% growth intourism arrival, the tourism revenue is expected to reach 8%.

Everything in relation to tourismin Sri Lanka is picture perfect in

papers. Clearly drawn master

plans, ambitious programmes,encouraging statistics, well

designed strategies for

promotions, and inflow of funds

from international donors toboost tourism economy give an

impression that nothing would

remain a hurdle to make thecountry the Asian tourism icon.

Everything has been designed in

laboratory condition.

1 Page 4 of the Sri Lanka Tourism Strategic Plan 2009-2012 while outlining the clearly defined strategic

targets says “to attract 1.5 million tourist arrivals per annum if peace prevails by 2016”!



But there lies an “if peace” in Sri Lanka’s tourism vision document, that has a verysarcastic implication. And the sarcasm lies in the fact that the “small miracle” is the only

country in the world that does not have any external threat, yet it spends millions of

dollars on arms and on its military. Theoretically the end of the war should have resultedin the demilitarization of the country, one of the most militarized countries of South Asia,

if not the world. The end of ethnic conflict should ideally have turned the military of thecountry without any mission. But on the contrary, the Sri Lankan army intends to recruittens of thousands of new troops and to increase its massive military budget which was

USD 1.6 billion last year. This means peace prevails in the country at gun point. The

presence of heavily armed young soldiers and barricades along the highways is a

testimony to this. This also means that for every dollar that reaches the island fromtourism, a portion goes to procuring sophisticated arms from abroad. The country might

not be the right destination at least for the time being.

______Vinod Krishnan is attached to the Centre for Research & Education for Social Transformation

(CREST), Calicut , India. Recently was in Sri Lanka in connection with a study on Sri Lankan

tourism scenario.

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Tourism in Sri Lanka