Tourism envisions reaching 2.5 m arrivals target early

Monday, 17 February 2014 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

February brings in over 50,000 tourists in 10 days

By Cheranka Mendis Encouraged by soaring arrivals, Sri Lanka Tourism is confident of achieving the goal of 2.5 million tourists much ahead of the targeted year of 2016. Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Director General Dr. D.S. Jayaweera said that as at 10 February, over 50,000 tourists have come into the country during the month, of which over 9,000 are from China.

This was on top of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry beginning 2014 with double digit growth with arrivals in January recording a 32.6% increase to 146,575. This is the highest-ever arrivals figure for the month of January whilst the achievement is also comes on the back of all-time high arrivals of 154,000 in December 2013. “With the new projections, we will not only be able to achieve the 2.5 million tourists by 2016 way ahead of schedule, our industry revenue is also likely to surpass that of the apparel industry, which brought in US$ 4.3 billion in exports in 2013,” Jayaweera said. In 2013, earnings from tourism rose by 35% to record $1.4 billion compared to $1 billion recorded in 2012, exceeding the initial estimates for the year. Jayaweera said the composition of Sri Lanka’s key tourist markets is fast changing and is likely to be filled with emerging countries on top, toppling the lead of the more traditional India, UK and Germany. Statistics for January arrivals also showed China as the third highest tourist generating market with 10,779 arrivals, following closely behind India (17,886) and the UK (12,896). “Even though the traditional markets of UK and India are now in the lead, these are likely to change within the course of the year,” stated Dr. Jayaweera. He attributed the trend changes to the aggressive tourism marketing and promotional campaigns undertaken by Sri Lanka Tourism in 2013. Similar events will be organised throughout this year as well. The average daily spend of tourists coming into Sri Lanka is also changing, he added, from the previous US$ 107 per day. The new number is currently being validated and evaluated, Jayaweera asserted. “The new figure is looking very encouraging. We are very positive.” Along with the aggressive destination promotions, recovering markets in Europe are also boding well for the country. This revival is expected to boost arrivals from European countries while a new trend of high-end market demand is also likely to emerge from this category. “We are looking at a very rosy path for the tourism industry,” Jayaweera added.

Cabinet nod for BIA expansion

The project to improve the facilities of the country’s main Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in order to cope with air traffic, which has remarkably increased in 2013, has received the Cabinet nod. Accordingly, a proposal made by Minister of Civil Aviation Piyankara Jayaratne to proceed with the relevant activities relating to the Bandaranaike International Airport Development Project, Phase II Stage 2 (Design & Built contract) and Post Design Supervision Consultancy Services has received approval to proceed. Both procurements were cancelled with the Cabinet decision of 31 January 2013 and have now been restarted. The Request for Proposals document of consultancy project is being prepared and the bidding document and the scope of the construction project will be revised, the Ministry said. Since the end of the war in 2009, passenger movements through the BIA had increased at a rate of 15% and the airport handled over seven million passengers last year. It is expected to increase the total capacity of the BIA to 15 million passengers per year with the completion of Stage 2 of Phase II Development Project of the BlA. Under the Development Project Phase II Stage 2, a second passenger terminal and required utility for second terminal will be constructed. Work will also be carried out to expand the terminal building, aircraft parking apron, and public utilities. Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd. and Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) signed a Rs. 42.5 billion loan agreement last year to finance the expansion of the Bandaranaike International Airport and future developments.