Sri Lanka expects 10 lakh tourists in 2022, especially from India

As the country grapples with one of its worst economic turmoil, the Sri Lankan government is aiming to receive at least 10 lakh tourists this year, mostly from India.

In his recent visit to Ahmedabad to promote tourism in the island nation, Srilankan Tourism Minister Harin Fernando on Sunday said that the country is expecting maximum tourists from India as religious and cultural tourism between Sri Lanka and India "will make a lot of sense", reported PTI.

"There are a lot of commonalities we can find with India, and we think the next year will be mostly dedicated to India," said Fernando told reporters. 

The beginning of the year 2022 marked a promising footfall of five lakh tourists in Sri Lanka. However, the economic turmoil made the situation unfavourable for the tourism sector in the country. However, the country is expecting to receive ten lakh tourists by the end of this year, especially from India. Fernando regarded the year 2018 as the best for Sri Lanka's tourism industry as it generated a revenue of $4-$5 billion after more than 23 lakh tourists visited the country in that year.

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"We have $900 million coming from the tourism sector (so far this year), and are hoping that by the end of the year we might reach about $2 billion," Fernando said. This would be possible only when the country's tourist inflow would cross the 10 lakh mark this year, and the minister was hopeful that the numbers would increase to 15-20 lakh next year.

"Till now (this year), we have had 75,000 Indian tourists coming to Sri Lanka, followed by the United Kingdom (65,000). The first two-three months were good, and then we had a very dull period between April-June (due to political turmoil)," the minister said. As the nation can bring stability by controlling its political turmoil, the number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka is slowly ramping up. Currently, the country has been receiving around 2,000 tourists per day, as against the peak of 7,000 per day.

"Sri Lanka, some would say, is a sort of India, we are a part of India...We are the pearl of the Indian Ocean, the value of Sri Lanka would be for Indians and we need to work that out with Indians," Fernando said.

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Throwing light upon the upcoming ventures of Sri Lanka in India, he told about his country's plan to work with a few ashrams in India to promote tourism. "We are trying to bring in a big crowd at once — about 2,000 pilgrims — to Jaffna airport, and from there starting by road. We are looking at exploring these new avenues. We also have a lot of wellness, yoga, meditation, and Ayurvedic medicines. There are a lot of values that India and Sri Lanka share," the minister said.

Referring to India's role in helping out Sri Lanka at the time of distress, Harin Fernando said, "We thank the Narendra Modi government, especially at this point where Sri Lanka had difficult times in the last couple of months."

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Using the depreciating value of its national currency in its favor, Sri Lankan President stated that the country would offer a better value for the money as one Indian rupee is equivalent to four Sri Lankan rupees in the current scenario.

"Indians will have a better value for money while touring Sri Lanka rather than Indian destinations at this moment. Sri Lanka has a lot more to offer," he said. Afterward, he also expressed his grief on the common tendency of travellers from Gujarat of preferring far east countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand as their tourism destinations.

"Sri Lankans want stability with the new government. People have seen this change with the fuel crisis and gas, and we do not have long queues anymore. That is what people need," said Sri Lankan cricketer and brand ambassador of Sri Lanka Tourism, Sanath Jayasuriya, who was also present on the occasion.

It is worth noting that Sri Lanka's economy is heavily dependent upon tourism. Hence, the island nation needs to ensure consistent growth in its tourism sector to achieve economic stability in the coming time.

With inputs from PTI