Sri Lanka tourism chief: ‘We're a safe, year-round destination’
Ilaria Grasso MacolaSri Lanka is working to position itself as a safe, year-round destination once again with the country set to hit the two million visitor mark this year for the first time for six years.
Buddhika Herwawasam, chair of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, said international arrivals bounced back in 2024 after several years marred by political and economic instability.
“In 2018, we achieved 2.3 million tourists, and this year, we will definitely pass the two million mark,” he explained to TTG at WTM London.
Herwawasam said UK tourist numbers had gone up following the election of president Anura Kumara Dissanayake in mid-September, with Britain now accounting for 20% of all arrivals this year. Meanwhile, other western European countries such as Germany and France have seen their numbers pick up too.
Herwawasam told TTG Sri Lanka was investing heavily in positioning itself as a safe, year-round destination, with a particular focus on showcasing less popular areas such as its northern and eastern coasts.
“People believe Sri Lanka is a seasonal destination, which it is not – because when there’s a monsoon in one part of the country, the other is totally dry,” he said.
"We are revamping Sri Lanka to be more customer and community friendly, and we’re investing large amounts of marketing budget to bring in journalists and operators to show them our products.”
He insisted that despite recent terror alerts issued by the US and UK governments, Sri Lanka was no more dangerous than other countries, with no incidents since the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019.
Herwawasam also said the country had improved safety and security systems in all its tourism hotspots such as hotels. “We have no particular type of threat, only the common threats that all countries face with what is going on in the world right now,” he added.
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