The real challenge facing Sri Lanka’s tourism sector

In an article published in the Daily FT on 2 December, the former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Priantha Fernando has warned that enforcing tour guide licencing requirements ahead of the high tourist season will have ‘ominous consequences’: unleashing ‘operational chaos’, fostering ‘controversy and instability’ and damaging Sri Lanka’s reputation.  

Mr. Fernando’s statements both mis-diagnose the problem and misdirect the solution. The real challenge facing Sri Lanka’s tourism sector is not the enforcement of long-standing regulations, but the continued failure to plan for growth while allowing uneven standards, informality and exploitation to persist. It is largely because the sector has been allowed to operate without enforcement of standards that guide shortages, sub-standard services and reputational problems have now become acute. Delaying action now will further entrench the very weaknesses that have undermined the tourism sector for years. 

A crisis long in the making 

The Tourism Act No. 38 of 2005 gives the SLTDA the power to advise policymaking on all matters relating to the tourism and travel industry and prepare regulations for tourist establishments and tourist services. In Sri Lanka, it is mandatory for any person providing tourist guiding services to obtain a licence from SLTDA. This licence is obtained by completing a full-time training course conducted by the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, with renewal contingent on continuous skills development and meeting physical and mental fitness standards.  

Tour guides’ skills, experience and professionalism play a key role in ensuring that visitors to Sri Lanka receive a consistently rewarding travel experience that reflects positively on the country. Even though local tour operators use tour guide services to provide high-quality experiences for their clients, they have continuously resisted efforts to institute a fair minimum daily rate. Tour guides have highly informal jobs, with low and inconsistent pay and no benefits or social protection. The seasonal nature of tour guides’ work further contributes to unpredictable and unstable employment.  

As Mr. Fernando rightly points out, the dearth of skilled and qualified guides is indeed key challenge facing the industry. Non-competitive wages, unpredictability and lack of social security are some of the key reasons for this shortage. Setting a minimum guide wage would be one way to encourage more to enter the field, increasing the supply of guides overall.  

Clear and transparent wages for guides would also address the problem of commission abuse that is prevalent across the industry. Fernando claims that guides exploit tourists by directing them to businesses. However, he neglects to acknowledge that it is often tour operators themselves who require guides to take visitors to specific establishments, in some cases going so far as to withhold payment of daily guide wages unless these shopping stops are completed. It is widely known in the industry that the associated commissions are frequently shared with the tour operators who coordinate directly with the establishments concerned. 

It is plainly unpleasant for tourists to be pushed into unnecessary shopping stops during what they expect to be a cultural or leisure experience. When visitors feel exploited, it reflects poorly not only on the guide and tour operator, but also on Sri Lanka as a destination. Such practices undermine the country’s efforts to position itself as a high-quality, value-driven tourism offering. 

Guides themselves are ready to support serious efforts to curb these practices, including through transparent wage structures that are not implicitly subsidised by commissions. This is yet another the reason why the establishment of clear minimum guide wages is critical. Yet, proposals to formalise guide remuneration has repeatedly faced resistance from tour operators.  

Lowering standards is not increasing supply 

Meanwhile there has also been a rise in unlicenced and untrained individuals being employed by tour operators as ‘guides’ in recent years, which the Sri Lanka Institute of National Tourist Guides Lecturers (SLINTGL) has requested SLTDA to address as a priority. Tour operators have sought to justify low wages paid to professional guides on the basis that sub-standard guiding represents an increase in the ‘supply’ of guides. In reality such practices are only serving to lower standards for high-quality experiences and services.  

In 2023, the Sri Lanka Institute of National Tourist Guide Lecturers (SLINTGL) petitioned the Supreme Court to compel SLTDA and the Ministry of Tourism to take action against unregistered and unlicenced individuals involved in delivering tourism services. In response, the SLTDA recently committed to establishing an Enforcement Unit in accordance with the Tourism Act—an acknowledgment of years of inaction. This adjustment is not a crisis, but a long overdue correction.  

For years, tour operators and industry leaders have excused institutional failures on the basis of practical difficulties. If guest dissatisfaction and reputational damage are genuine concerns, then the solution is clear: enforce licencing, enforce minimum standards, and expand training in parallel. A deference to the short-sighted interests of a small number of powerful tour operators risks subordinating the long-term health of the industry to narrow commercial considerations. 

This is particularly naïve at a time when Sri Lanka faces stiff competition from other destinations and increasingly discerning, well-informed travellers. 

What the sector requires now is not further excuses, but serious leadership. This is not the moment to kick the can further down the road.

(The author is a National Tour Guide (French/German/English) and former Secretary, Sri Lanka Institute of National Tourist Guide Lecturers)