Sri Lanka Tourism: Good is not good when better is expected

Tourism is back to being the darling of the Sri Lankan Economy after a tumultuous 2019-2022. Bouncing back in 2023 post Sri Lanka’s economic and political upheaval of the previous year, the industry has been on a trajectory of growth this year. From January to June, our island welcomed 1,010,249 foreign visitors which is 61.6% above the cumulative figure in 2023 but 13.25% behind the benchmark year of 2018 – our most successful year in terms of tourist arrivals (Source: SLTDA Statistics). Sri Lanka Tourism has many strengths and opportunities but we do not seem to address key industry weaknesses in a robust manner. The following three recommendations are aimed at adding more value to Sri Lanka Tourism:

A meaningful industry tagline

‘Sri Lanka – You’ll Come Back for More,’ the current industry tagline does not communicate value, lacks awe and has no competitive advantage. For someone who has no idea of our island nation nor has visited us before, communicating that they will keep coming back makes no impact. Only 33% of tourists to our island are repeat visitors (Source: SLTPB Chairman, Daily FT Interview - 21 May 2024). Taglines have to create inspirational and aspirational values like ‘Incredible India’ and ‘Malaysia – Truly Asia.’ Sri Lanka is blessed with many of the world’s treasures ranging from beaches, mountains, wildlife, culture, the Buddhist philosophy, Ayurveda and much more. A tagline such as ‘Sri Lanka – The World’s Treasure Island’ will communicate far better value, especially to the discerning traveller who has never visited us before. The long-term tagline formulation strategy should be, to do comprehensive research and analysis and formulate a tagline we can continuously communicate for a decade into the future or longer. Sri Lanka Tourism keeps changing its mind from Small Miracle, Wonder of Asia, So Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka – You’ll Come Back for More all in the limited time span of the last 15 years. We can’t expect to occupy a special place in the mind of the global traveller if we keep changing the positioning every four-five years.

More astute marketing

Sri Lanka was ranked as the fourth most popular tourist destination in the world for 2024 by the Forbes magazine. Sri Lanka’s Global Marketing achievements are primarily due to its natural beauty and natural resources rather than astute marketing efforts. Sri Lanka Tourism’s digital marketing competency is poor at best. Basic marketing initiatives such as having a high-quality Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau website – www.srilanka.travel is crucial. This would be the first unbiased point of reference for any tourist with the desire to travel to Sri Lanka. The site currently has much to be desired. The information is not organised in a user-friendly customer focused manner and is hard to navigate. The Calendar, Upcoming Events and News sections have no updates for 2024. Industry actors have been calling for an Integrated Global Marketing Campaign for some time now. How effective this will be, with a weak competitive tagline such as ‘Sri Lanka- You’ll Come Back for More’ and weak marketing especially weak digital marketing foundations such as www.srilanka. travel remains to be seen.

Infrastructure development

Despite being adorned with natural beauty, Sri Lanka lacks the infrastructure required for tourists. Clean public washrooms are lacking at tourist attractions such as Sigiriya, in trains and at important train stations. Colombo needs better commuting options if the city is to be positioned as a leisure and MICE tourism capital. Projects such as the Light Railway would have greatly benefited accessibility around Colombo – hopefully Japan will restart this landmark project with the Government of Sri Lanka soon. Public investments such as the Airport expansion with Japan resuming Yen funded projects in Sri Lanka and private investments such as the $ 1 billion City of Dreams investment by premier blue chip John Keells Holdings and global gaming giant Melco creating the first fully integrated resort in the whole of South Asia, are much needed infrastructure investments. A focus on infrastructure development is crucial if Sri Lanka Tourism is to attract high spending tourists. Nations such as Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Vietnam have better strategic planning and execution skills and attract more tourists than Sri Lanka annually. Maldives tends to be on par with Sri Lanka in terms of arrival numbers but their visitors spend much more. If a meandering strategy can give us good results like we have now, just imagine what Sri Lanka Tourism could do with focused, robust and customer-centric strategy and execution? Good is not good when better is expected.

(The writer is a National University of Singapore MBA holder and CEO of a Management Consulting Firm. He can be contacted via email at [email protected] .)