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Though for the general public it seems more likely that the Sri Lankan tourism industry is doing well, it is a hard fact that Sri Lanka has been lagging behind in pace of improvement compared to its regional peers and main competitors – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara
By Sanira Waas
The Sri Lankan tourism industry has been given a significant attention in the country as it holds the place as the third largest export earner in the economy, after remittances and textiles and garments.
It is inevitably true that the tourism industry has ripple effects in the economy, as around 5% of the total employment is directly accounted by the tourism sector and nearly 10% of the employment of the country has induced effects of tourism industry.
With a Rs. 1,518.8 billion of total contribution to GDP in 2017 and with 2.3 billion international visitor arrivals in 2018, Sri Lanka was heading to a target of 2.5 billion arrivals by the end of 2019 (approximately 1.9 billion as at 31 December 2019).
The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) with the Ministry of Tourism and Christian Religious Affairs guide the industry with the vision of ‘’being recognised as the world’s finest island for memorable, authentic and diverse experiences” and targets a transformation with improved quality and standards.
It is desired to be identified as a high-value destination offering extraordinary experiences that reflect Sri Lanka’s natural and cultural heritage, are socially inclusive and environmentally responsible, and provide economic benefits to communities and the country.
Are we really doing fine?
Though for the general public it seems more likely that the Sri Lankan tourism industry is doing well, it is a hard fact that Sri Lanka has been lagging behind in pace of improvement compared to its regional peers and main competitors. Sri Lanka could only secure the 77th global position in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index in 2019 by World Economic Forum, recording the only decrement in South Asia compared to 2017 by 13 positions, while India ranked 34th globally and has been identified with a significant improvement of six positions.
Further regional competitors like Singapore (rank 17th), Malaysia (29th), Thailand (31st), Indonesia (40th) and even Vietnam (63rd) have ranked well ahead of Sri Lanka with improvements from 2017 to 2019 depicting how the Sri Lankan travel and tourism industry has failed to compete in the global tourism arena (except Singapore which has dropped four rankings). It is understood that the country should be much concerned with the development of the tourism industry as a whole in compared with the regional competitors while referring to the success stories in the global context.
Yet SLTDA has set high optimistic targets for 2020 and is expected that tourism would earn $ 7 billion and to increase daily visitor spending per visitor to $ 210 by 2020. These targets have been a mere Christmas wish list when we dig deep into the current statistics of the industry and when looking at the major strategies implemented by the SLTDA and other responsible reputed Government ministries and institutes.
It is more likely that this set target of $ SD 7 billion tourism receipts in 2020 can only be achieved with a congruent strategy of increasing per day visitor expenditure, nights spent in the country and tourist arrivals to the country.
Where have we gone wrong?
Even being ranked among top destinations to visit by numerous global recognised websites and even with thousands of reviews by the travel vloggers and bloggers, Sri Lanka tourism is not moving forward with the pace of the global market. This concretes the doubt that there is something which has gone significantly wrong. Is it because the country lacks natural scenic beauty or is there something to do with the administration and operational aspect of the industry?
With last year’s traumatic Easter Sunday attacks, most of the general public in the country made it the excuse for the lag we see today in the tourism industry. Though a significant impact was made with that tragic incident, it is unfair to critique it as the main cause for this situation. The statistics until 2018 and the TTCI rank depict where we stand and the fact that we are too far behind the competitiveness in the global market and will deny the fact that this is all because of Easter Sunday attacks.
Other than one-off unexpected incidents, the Sri Lanka tourism industry lags behind due to its own failures associated with the tourism service providers and Government policymakers. No one can blame the other as they being the main parties are liable for this under performances and inefficiency we see in the industry.
Also it is difficult to clear the doubt of whether the vision and strategies of SLTDA have not been communicated properly to other stakeholders in the industry or that the well-communicated vision and goals are not being considered significantly by the tourism service providers and other stakeholders in the industry. However, the lack of congruency towards one goal and a vision as an industry has been the main reason behind this slow-paced improvement of tourism industry, which has increased vulnerability within the industry.
What can we do to tap the untapped potential?
Role of the policy maker
Role of tourism service providers
The Sri Lanka tourism industry and our unique destination attractions have got a lot more to offer and have the potential to generate more foreign revenue to the country. But these goals are not things which can solely be achieved by SLTDA and it is a must that every corner of the country should feel that tourism industry as the next level gateway to the world as the Sri Lankan textile and garment industry will lose its competitiveness to the Africans.
If the entire country could get along with one vision and strategy, it is not too far that Sri Lanka would be branded as a world’s top high-end tourist destination which would eventually benefit every economic layer of the pyramid of the country.
[The writer is a final year Management Undergraduate of the Department of Business Economics, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He has a first-class degree specialising in Business Economics and Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting (CIMA-UK).]