Sri Lanka Tourism must focus on Asian tourism as arrivals reach 45% 

SLTPB Director PR Gayathri Dassanayake, Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union Executive Director Rohan Gunaratne, SLTPB Chairman Dr. Rohantha Athukorala and Dialog Axiata Group Marketing General Manager Brand and Media Harsha Samaranayake

The changing landscape of Sri Lanka tourism is seen in the latest tourist arrivals with Asian tourism accounting for 45.3% of the total, crossing 595,583 arrivals as at end September 2015.

“In the backdrop of Europe’s contribution dropping to 39% during the same period, this is the reality we must face,” said Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau Chairman Dr. Rohantha Athukorala. 

Sri Lanka Tourism will be the Tourism Partner of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) in the third leg of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series to be staged next week in Colombo. The event is sponsored by telco giant Dialog.

The tournament this year will feature 12 men’s and eight women’s teams taking part from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, UAE and Uzbekistan. 

“Sri Lanka Tourism’s marketing investment in the above countries is almost 300 million per annum and I am thankful for SLRFU for inviting us to partner the event. With the free TV space that will be allowed for Sri Lanka Tourism, we can reach 40 million viewers in Asia which is a big win,” said Athukorala. 

“I sincerely thank the private sector for rallying round the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau with the next international travel consumer fair coming up being ITB Asia 2016, that is to be staged in Singapore on 22 October. There are 23 top Destination Marketing a Companies from Sri Lanka taking part in the event with Sri Lanka Tourism, which can support conversion of a potential traveller from the media support we will get from the Asian Rugby Sevens partnership,” he said. 

“Research reveals that 23.2 million people had Googled Sri Lanka tourism-related searches in 2014 but conversion was only 1.5 million, which is below industry consumer behaviour norms. We must address this issue with strategic marketing which is the new age challenge for the tourism industry of Sri Lanka,” said Athukorala. 

“The industry must move to scientific development via technology which is a global trend. Almost 49% of the business into Sri Lanka from tourism is consumed by the informal sector and fuelled positively by online travel companies like Air BnB, Agoda and Booking.com. This is called the shared economy of the world which is the new trend globally which Sri Lanka needs to accept the new reality and adjust,” he opined.