SRI LANKA
CEYLON GLEE SRI LANKA
As Sri Lanka’s visitor arrivals soar, attention is turning to how tourism can better help local communities and protect the environment – creating special experiences for your clients, says Jenny Potter
another couple of digits to the 1.2 million visitors the island expects this year. Sri Lanka has seen meteoric growth in
W 48 December 2013
tourism since its brutal civil war ended in 2009, when the country received 400,000 tourists. Now, with the domestic situation calm, the government’s ambitious target is 2.5 million international arrivals by 2016. Numbers from the UK are fl ourishing too:
hen Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Sri Lanka last month they added
between January and October this year, UK arrivals stood at more than 100,000, 11% higher than the same period last year. A new British Airways route from London and playing host to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in November have both put Sri Lanka in the spotlight, and UK operators report that Sri Lanka is fl ying off the shelves – with Cosmos enjoying a 65% lift and If Only and Abercrombie & Kent seeing numbers to Sri Lanka double.
www.sellinglonghaul.com All these additional tourists need a
place to stay, and the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Agency estimates that as many as 35,000 more hotel and guesthouse rooms will be required by 2016. International brands are fi nally
committing to the island too, with Hyatt Regency, Marriott, Anantara and Shangri-La all coming in the next two or three years. In many ways, Sri Lanka is booming. But the physical, sociological and economic scars of 30 years of war, and the Boxing
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80