ADVENTURE TRAVEL TO HELP PUT SRI LANKA BACK ON TOURISM MAP

▶ Country is investing in marine diving, mountain climbing and hiking to help rebuild economy

Adventure tourism is playing an important role in helping Sri Lanka to rebuild its economy after a turbulent few years.

The country’s travel sector was hit hard by to a foreign currency crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

This led to months of food and fuel shortages, along with runaway inflation and prolonged power cuts.

Speaking at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai yesterday, industry figures were bullish about how tourism can help the country to recover.

One of the main strategies is to attract people seeking adventure holidays.

“We have just launched the Pekoe Trail, a 23-day hike through the mountains – that’s just one of the adventures we are offering,” Harin Fernando, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Tourism and Lands, told the fourday conference.

“We’re also investing in marine diving, mountain climbing and hiking. Another activity we are looking to bring to Sri Lanka is skydiving.” Visitors from the GCC will play a key role in ensuring Sri Lanka continues to rebound from its problems, the minister said.

“The Middle Eastern market is going to be crucial for Sri Lanka,” he said.

“Initially, what we wanted were numbers, which meant quantity over quality, but now I want to see us move to quality over quantity.

“We were desperate to get tourists back to Sri Lanka but that was the short-term goal. Now we need to move to a longterm strategy.”

This means attracting tourists who are open – and able – to spend more in the country than the normal holidaymaker.

“The average spending [of tourists in Sri Lanka] is $200 to $250, which is not enough,” Mr Fernando said.

“The target is to move that number to $400 to $500 by next year.

“We are not going to try and make Sri Lanka expensive, but we want to make it the destination of choice when it comes to affordable luxury.”

Last year, Sri Lanka experienced power cuts and a shortage of essential goods, with inflation rates reaching as high as 50 per cent. Protests took place in the capital city of Colombo, which spread to other parts of the country.

The fuel crisis led to schools closing, with people urged to work remotely to reduce costs.

Eventually, the country missed a payment on its foreign debt for the first time.

There was also a change in leadership.

In March, the International Monetary Fund approved a $3 billion bailout to help the country restructure its debt and address its economy.

The Sri Lankan rupee has strengthened from its record low in May last year to emerge as the world’s best-performing currency this year, according to travel data compiled by Bloomberg.

“It has been a bumpy ride for Sri Lanka in the past 11 to 12 months but I am delighted to say we have bounced back from where we were a year ago,” Mr Fernando said.

Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the UAE, Udaya Indrarathna, said being a year-round destination makes Sri Lanka attractive to a visitor from the Middle East seeking to escape soaring summer temperatures at home.

“After months of turbulent times, Sri Lankan tourism is back, stronger and better than ever,” he said.

“We have a lot of unique experiences to offer the Middle Eastern traveller.

“Sri Lanka is a year-round destination with pristine beaches and amazing weather.

“The country is a biodiversity hotspot with large forest coverage and a rich wildlife, it also brags a unique cultural heritage. It’s the best of Asia in one compact island.”

“The complexion of tourism in Sri Lanka is changing,” said Suresh Rajendra, president of leisure for the John Keells Group, the parent company of Cinnamon Hotels.

“The typical tourism in Sri Lanka has been beach stays and tours based on the culture and the Hill Country.

“That’s changing and we are seeing Colombo starting to attract the conference market bringing in more visitors from India and China,” he said.

We are not trying to make Sri Lanka expensive, but we want to make it the destination of choice for affordable luxury

HARIN FERNANDO

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Tourism

Lebanon expects to host 2.2 million tourists and earn about $9 billion in much-needed tourism revenue this year as it grapples with ongoing political deadlock and its worst economic crisis since independence.

This is slightly up from the 1.7 million visitors the Arab country hosted in 2022, when it received a similar $9 billion in cash flow from tourism, Walid Nassar, Lebanon’s Minister of Tourism, said on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

Seventy-five per cent of the projected visitors are expected to be Lebanese who live abroad and will return home for the holidays.

The other 25 per cent are expected to be foreigners, mainly from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait, he said.

The projected tourist numbers stand far below the pre-Covid level of seven million visitors in 2019, he said.

“You can expect a really hot summer in terms of tourism in Lebanon,” the minister told a panel at the annual travel event.

Lebanon’s economic and financial crises have been exacerbated by a political impasse that has blocked the formation of a new government and the enactment of reforms required to unlock billions of dollars in aid from the International Monetary Fund and other international donors.

Asked how the crises-hit country will attract a little more than two million tourists this year, the minister said that the Lebanese pound’s devaluation has made services and accommodation cheaper for international tourists spending hard currency.

Lebanon’s central bank devalued the pound in February, with the official exchange rate changing to 15,000 to the US dollar, compared with the peg in place since 1997 of 1,507.50 to the greenback. This led to a surge in consumer prices in March and the Lebanese pound trading in the parallel market at as much as 140,000 to the dollar last month.

Inflation in Lebanon hit an annual rate of about 264 per cent in March.

Warming diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran will also have a positive impact on Lebanon’s tourism performance, the minister said.

“Any rapprochement between any two Arab countries will affect positively Lebanon because we are part of this area … we are acting to improve this relationship between Lebanon, GCC [Gulf Co-operation Council countries] and Saudi Arabia,” Mr Nasser said.

Eco-tourism, religious tourism and rural getaways in the mountains are also attracting different types of travellers to the country, Mr Nassar said. “Despite its economic crisis, [Lebanon] is rich in its attractions.”