Sri Lanka tourism yet to get back on feet

Saturday, October 8, 2022

The tourism segment plays a vital role in Sri Lanka’s economy by providing employment to many people, fetching foreign exchange and much-needed revenue for the country’s government.

Tourism comprises 12% of Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product, becoming the third-largest foundation of foreign exchange. In 2018, as much as 2.3 million tourists visited the country, providing the country with US$4 billion to $5 billion in income, and adding 40,000 jobs to the economy.

The Easter Sunday bombings of April 2019 killing 250 people were the beginning of a ruin of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. There were 42 foreign nationals among those killed. After the incident, certain countries put out travel advisories cautioning its citizens to evade traveling to Sri Lanka. Tourists gave the island nation a miss, and new arrivals plunged by 70% in May and 60% in June compared to the year before.

For some time, it appeared that the tourism industry would get back on track, since incomes developed again toward the end of 2019 to $3.5 billion. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine pulled down Sri Lanka’s tourism sector yet again. The current financial emergency has made retrieval complicated for the tourism sector.

The tourism sector provides thousands of direct and indirect occupations to the Sri Lankan economy. Jobs added amplified at a steady speed till the pandemic struck two years before.

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