Asian travellers overtake European dominance into Sri Lanka

• Europe contribution drops from 43% to 40%
• Asian contribution increases from 42% to 44%
• China and India account for 29% of total
• India arrivals grow by 28% up to July

The changing landscape of Sri Lanka tourism needs a very close ear to the ground, states Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Dr. Rohantha Athukorala.

The performance as at end July saw the Asian traveller contribution overtaking the European counterpart with Asia clocking in 450,861 visitors into Sri Lanka as against 405,558 from Europe. 

“The former commanding 44% to the total guests to Sri Lanka of 1005,855 tells us the changing dynamics in the market and the product change required to cater to this changing clientele who spends less number of days and combined with trade and shopping experiences with value for money holiday,” said Athukorala at the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing workshop ‘New Age Marketing in the Dynamic Tourism Industry of Sri Lanka’ at the Taj Samudra hotel in Colombo, addressing a focused audience of the private sector.

A point highlighted was that whilst the Asian travel numbers increase, the European segment still accounts for 22% of the tourism receipts as against the 13% of Asian counterparts given the long haul holiday which means that financial attractiveness is yet on European traffic which Sri Lanka must not lose sight of, he said.

South Asian arrivals are dominated by China accounting for 119,705 at a growth of 77.6% whilst India continues to occupy the number one position at 170,134 visitors registering a growth of 27.4% as at end July 2015 data.

“It’s only a matter of time when China leaps to the top slot given the new markets that Sri Lanka is focusing on in China, namely the entrepreneurial hotspot of China-Quingdao and the first city of the Silk route, Xian,” voiced Athukorala. 

“This also tells us the changing product required on cuisine and signage which is an interesting challenge to the hotel sector that is challenged with low ROI and healthier bottom lines that the industry has been highlighting,” said a senior destination marketing specialist who was a participant at the session.

The next challenge highlighted was the increasing influence of digital media on the traveller decision-making process. The speaker mentioned that Trip Advisor accounted for 77% of the decision-making of UK travellers, the number one money spinner for Sri Lanka. 

“This means that unless the umbrella destination marketing by Sri Lanka tourism retains the 54 million who Trip Advisor-ed potential travellers in to Sri Lanka and the 23.2 million Google travellers, the private sector alone cannot move them to purchase which explains the integration in communication that must happen between the policymaking body like the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and the private sector of the tourism industry,” analysed Athukorala. 

The good news is that two million dollars has been allocated for digital media in the next five months only for Sri Lanka destination marketing, he said.

“The real challenge us how we make Sri Lanka a top of the mind strong destination brand  with the multi media advertising campaign that is to be launched in the key markets with the selection of the communication partner for the next two years. Once again the good news is that the top 10 global advertising agencies are in the system for selection. Now we must integrate the above and below the line marketing work with a strong private-public partnership which is the challenge we must work together,” were the concluding thoughts at the SLIM workshop. 

This was the first of the series of public training programs of tourism that SLIM plans to stage this year, said Coordinating Manager for SLIM Programs Sameera Pathirana.