‘Incredible India’ conceiver says SL must never be sold for less than $ 700 a night

• Amitabh Kant says no other destination in the world has a product like Sri Lanka 
• Opines Sri Lanka's tourism potential 10x better than Kerala 
• Insists Sri Lanka needs a targeted tourism strategy to avoid being a budget destination 
• Points to branding, policy reforms and infrastructure investment as key to unlocking economic potential 
• Lists AI, digital transformation and sustainability efforts essential to compete globally 
• Moots strategic partnerships with island nations will be crucial

By Divya Thotawatte 

Sri Lanka has all the elements to be a high-end global tourism destination and has a tourism potential that is significantly greater than Kerala, but is currently selling itself too cheaply, said India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, last week in Colombo.

“Sri Lanka’s human development index, physical quality of life index, and natural beauty are 10× better than Kerala. But it needs branding, it needs private participation. It’s a destination which should never be sold for less than $ 600 to $ 700 a night,” said Kant, who conceived the ‘Incredible India’ campaign to transform India into a sought-after tourist destination.

This emphatic message as well as other insights were shared by Kant, during his address at the two-day Innovation Island Summit 2025 jointly organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), in collaboration with the High Commission of India, Colombo, and the Capital Maharaja Group (CMG).

There was also a dedicated session by Kant, who in addition to being India’s G20 Sherpa, is also the former CEO NITI Aayog, a public policy think tank of the Indian Government. He was also a key driver of India’s growth initiatives such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Start Up India’, and ‘Ease of Doing Business’. 

During his tenure as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism from 2001 and 2007, Kant conceived the ‘Incredible India’ campaign through Ogilvy and Mather.

Speaking at the Summit, Kant, drawing from his experience as Kerala’s tourism secretary, explained that India transformed from a budget destination to a luxury travel hotspot through strategic branding, infrastructure investment, and private sector involvement. He said that when he became a secretary of tourism in Kerala, it used to be a $ 20 a night destination, but he drove a rebranding of the destination as ‘God’s Own Country’, restoring traditional architecture, promoting Ayurveda as a 21-day regimen, and focusing on high-spend tourists. 

However, he stated that he believed Sri Lanka had an even greater advantage with a good strategy. “There are very few destinations in the world which have beaches, wildlife, culture, architecture, history, backwaters, cuisine all combined together. No other destination in the world has a product like Sri Lanka. My view about Sri Lanka is that it needs to go off the value chain,” Kant said, warning that underselling the destination would only attract budget travellers and limit long-term growth. 

From fragile five to top five 

Drawing parallels to India’s own transformation, Kant pointed to how strategic reforms and investments can unlock economic potential. He outlined India’s remarkable economic growth, emphasising economic reforms, digital revolution and sustainability efforts as key factors that enabled the country to position itself as a leader in development and innovation, “moving from being the fragile five to the top five economies in the world.” 

“We are a $ 4 trillion economy. We grew at 8.2% last year with the only large economy growing in that range, and within the next three years we’ll overtake Japan and Germany to be the third largest.” 

Kant explained that one of the primary drivers of India’s economic growth had been major structural reforms, including tax overhauls, the Goods and Services Tax, and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Additionally, India had scrapped outdated 1700 laws, many from the socialist era, to foster a more business-friendly environment. 

In the past decade, there has also been a push for infrastructure, with India building over 40 million houses, 88,000 km of roads and expressways, and providing pipe water connections to 253 million people. The country had also increased women’s financial inclusion, raising the percentage of women with bank accounts from 18% to 91%. 

The push for digitisation had also greatly influenced India’s economy. He explained that India now led the world in real-time digital payments, handling 50% of global fast payments, with China trailing at 20%. 

“Between 2015 and 2017, we opened up 550 million bank accounts. Every second, a bank account was opened in India. From Fast Payment our young startups started providing credit on the payment history, paperless, cashless credit. All these transactions are done within 30 seconds to one minute.” 

 

AI, innovation, and the Global South 

 

The artificial intelligence race has just begun, and rarely in the history of technology has a race been won by the first innovator, stressed Kant, drawing comparisons to early developments like the first laptop and search engine. 

However, if developing countries do not take control of AI innovation, they risk becoming “technology colonies” of the US or China. “When you become technology colonies of the US or China, you will lose out on your history, your culture, your civilisation because of the inherent biases that will be built into the artificial intelligence models.” 

To counter this, India had taken an open-source approach to AI development. This globally interoperable model by India was unlike the close-proprietary models of the US and China, and included India’s Digital Public Infrastructure for AI (DPI), which allowed startups and entrepreneurs to build AI applications without monopolistic control. A key example is India’s Bhashini platform, which enabled citizens to access government services in local languages through AI-powered voice recognition. 

“It’s not about building large language models, it’s about how AI can be used to transform learning outcomes, health outcomes, improve nutritional standards, and transform the lives of citizens across island states in the Global South, so the region could be the epicentre.”

 

Sustainability and global financial reform

 

While these developments took place, India also focused on becoming a leader in green energy, Kant noted. “We built 200 gigawatts of renewable energy. We also electrified close to 30 million houses in India. We want to be the first country in the world to organise and industrialise through a process of decarbonisation. Because we believe that net zero can be net positive, and that when we move towards clean energy, with the size and scale of India, we can do things not at a green premium, but at a green discount.” 

However, achieving global climate and sustainability goals required significant financial commitments, Kant said. He explained that India, during its G20 presidency, had formed a committee led by economist Larry Summers and policymaker NK Singh to assess the financial resources needed for emerging markets to go green and meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

“Both achieving the climate goals of net zero and achieving sustainable goals, where the world is severely lagging behind, are two sides of the same coin. This committee spelled out that you require an annual commitment of about $ 3 trillion per annum till 2030. The challenge is that many of the global institutions which were set up Post World War II, the IMF and the World Bank, have both outlived their utility. They were not designed for climate change or SDGs. They do not have the ability to mobilise private capital.”

He argued that while there was no shortage of funds globally, with $ 300 trillion available across sovereign wealth funds, venture funds, and institutional investors, the real change lay in structuring financial mechanisms to de-risk investments in emerging markets and island nations like Seychelles, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka.

This shift was not just necessary, but inevitable, Kant stated. “This year, 70% of the growth in the world is going to come from the Global South. For the next three decades, 3/4th of the growth will come from the Global South. While Europe, America and Japan are aging, the population in India, Africa, and Sri Lanka is young. Therefore, you need resources to be flown into this part of the world, and you need these institutions to divert themselves towards island states in the Global South.” 

During this conversation, Kant called for stronger partnerships with island nations and the Global South to create resilient economies and sustainable growth models. “By fostering innovative partnerships, we will redefine global governance and pave the way for an equitable, sustainable and a prosperous future.”