Visa says tourism is a pivot to Sri Lanka’s economic recovery

Visa India and South Asia Group Country Manager Sandeep Ghosh– Pic by Lasantha Kumara

By Tania de Silva

Digital payment technology specialist Visa tips tourism in Sri Lanka to grow as a major economic category expressing confidence that the sector can be a pivot to the country’s recovery.

Visa’s optimism is amidst pick up in tourist arrivals in recent months. 

This year so far has seen monthly arrivals top 100,000 and year to date up to 7 April, the cumulative figure is 362,591.

 Visa India and South Asia Group Country Manager Sandeep Ghosh who was in the country recently welcomed the revival in tourism. “Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is recovering and is poised to grow and the enhanced tourism industry will add buoyancy to other sectors of the economy,” he told journalists.

Acknowledging that tourism makes up 12% of Sri Lanka’s GDP and the third largest source of foreign exchange, Ghosh said data shows tourists traveling to Sri Lanka has grown and is set to accelerate. “With green shoots and an economic recovery, these numbers look very positive for tourism,” he added.

Visa welcomed several positive developments for Sri Lanka tourism including being featured as among top 10 in the ‘50 Most Instagrammable Places in the World 2023’, the MICE industry targeting $ 300 million through corporate tourism and leisure, improving easy access for tourists and the planned, first-ever Tourism Investor Forum and the active promotion of Sri Lanka as a tourist destination to bring in more tourists.

Ghosh revealed that modern travellers are looking for experiential travel and not just hotspots.

“Travellers want to form genuine connections,” the Visa official said, adding that 71% of Asia Pacific consumers are seeking to connect with real people in everything they do as opposed to 66% during pre-COVID.

“66% people surveyed by the Sustainable Travel Report 2022 want to have ‘authentic’ experiences that give insight into local culture and customs, away from exaggerated tourist attractions. 51% of travellers consider low or zero carbon emissions while they reach a destination as a key facet of sustainable travel,” Ghosh added.

He also emphasised the growing trend for wellness travel, along with the need to “switch off” and prioritise mental health made way for experiences like spiritual travel and offbeat holiday destinations.

Visa also stressed the importance of seamless and secure payment access for tourism growth.

Ghosh said businesses should provide a variety of payment options wherever travellers are, and are accustomed to in their home countries – be it cards, contactless payments, QR code payments, online/ecommerce payments etc.

In that context, Visa called for greater investment in digital infrastructure as critical to welcome the upturn in tourist arrivals.

“Smooth, secure payments win consumer trust, especially for new tourists. Even when consumers travel off the beaten path too, they should be able to make payments safely and conveniently,” Ghosh said, adding that greater availability of digital payment infrastructure will make consumers confident about in-store purchase experiences and aid positive sentiment towards the country as a whole.

“Acceptance of digital payments, especially cards since tourists are familiar with them, must be widespread and simple,” he added.

According to Visa, in Sri Lanka there are over 320,000 merchants registered for LankaQR and nearly 100,000 POS machines in the market. Ghosh welcomed the Government’s Cash Wade initiative for consumers and “Sri Lanka Go Digital” initiative enlightens and empowers entrepreneurs from regional SMEs. 

He pointed out that making Sri Lanka technologically adept is also essential to aid recovery post-economic crisis since over 1 million SMEs make up 75% of all businesses and contribute to 52% of GDP and 45% of employment.