Sri Lanka will grant free visas to tourists

Sri Lanka will grant free visas to tourists from key markets like the United Kingdom, Europe and Asian Buddhist countries like Thailand for six months from 1 April 2019 to encourage visits during months when arrivals usually slump.

The government information office said in a statement the Cabinet of Ministers had approved the proposal by John Amaratunga, Minister of Tourism Development, Wild Life and Christian Religious Affairs this week.

Free visas will be given to tourists from Thailand, United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, Canada, United States of America, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and countries of the European Union, it said.

The move aims to encourage visits during key Buddhist festivals like Vesak and Poson during this period.

(COLOMBO, February 27, 2019-SB)

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Sri Lanka to identify tourism development zones to boost arrivals

Colombo, Feb 21 (newsin.asia) – The Sri Lankan government will identify tourism development zones throughout the island which will concentrate on tourism related activities, a statement from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) said here Thursday.

The SLTDA embarked on a mutual partnership with the the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to identify the zones which will be set up to avoid ad-hoc tourism development and to avoid undesirable activities.

The zones are likely to be set up in places such as the central highlands of Ella and Nuwara Eliya and Arugam Bay, Kalpitiya, Beruwala, Hikkaduwa and Pinnawala. These areas are popular tourist areas.

“Sri Lanka has been identified as one of the fast-emerging tourist destinations in the South Asian Region. The island’s biodiversity, long lasted culture, historic monuments, exotic beaches, and evergreen environment can be identified as the key attractions for international tourists,” the SLTDA said in the statement.

“However, with the increased tourist arrivals various tourism related or associated activities are mushrooming in around popular tourist destinations. Most of these activities are developed in an irresponsible manner in the absence of proper development guidelines in existing and emerging tourism hubs,” the SLTDA added.

Such developments put invaluable cultural and natural assets at severe risk of degradation. At the same time, there are other locations, of which the potentials have yet to be properly explored for the development of tourism-related activities, the SLTDA further said.

Since the end of the island’s 30 year civil conflict between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, which ended in May 2009, Sri Lanka has emerged as one of the leading travel destinations in the world.

Last year, Sri Lanka received 2.3 million tourists while this year it is aiming to welcome 3 million tourists.

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Tourism industry grows by 2.2% in January

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka shows that tourism earnings have increased by 2.2% in January 2019.

The data reveals the country earned nearly USD 458.4mn in January this year, compared to USD 448.5mn during January last year(2018).

Sri Lanka welcomed nearly 244,239 tourists in January 2019, indicating an increase of 2.2% from last year’s 238,924.

In 2019, the Sri Lankan tourism industry expects to attract more than 3 mn foreign tourists as Sri Lanka is ranked number 1 destination to visit in 2019 by Lonely Planet.

To achieve above-mentioned target Sri Lanka needs a growth rate of 28.5% on average. However, the current growth rate is at 2.2%.

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Survey finds Indian, Western tourists in Sri Lanka satisfied with hotel stays

ECONOMYNEXT- Most Indian and Western tourists visiting Sri Lanka are satisfied with their stays in hotels, according to the latest airport survey done by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.

Of the over 1,000 tourists who answered questions in the survey, 63 percent had stayed in hotels. Another 16 percent stayed in guest houses, and 8 percent stayed in boutique hotels.

The highest number of respondents in the survey were from India, Germany, UK, Australia and Russia, aged between 20-29 and were male.

Around 60 percent of the tourists thought that the quality of rooms in Sri Lanka were excellent or very good, and only 9 percent of them had rated the rooms poor.

Fifty-six percent of the tourists rated the quality of food highly, while 11 percent thought the opposite. There was a nearly identical split in opinion over the quality of service.

The survey was done through two touch screens at self-service kiosks at the Katunayake Airport. (COLOMBO, July 12, 2018)

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