By: Staff Writer

November 19, Colombo (LNW): Tourism in Sri Lanka has reached a major milestone, with the arrival of over 1.7 million tourists so far in 2024. Over 100,000 visitors have arrived in the first 17 days of November, setting up a strong surge in tourism as the holiday season approaches.

The virtuous momentum has propelled Sri Lanka Tourism to alter its marketing strategy, moving away from fragmented campaigns that it had been running to introduce one unified national brand.

This newly crafted approach seeks to create and position Sri Lanka as an all-season destination while ensuring maximum return on investment.

The national rebranding effort is expected to start in January 2025 with full promotional activities starting in May. “Creative assets for the campaign will be finalized by the end of this year,” said Buddhika Hewawasam, Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism.

This is done to ensure that Sri Lanka produces one comprehensive and coherent image that will appeal to the broad spectrum of global travelers to visit the country any time of the year.

But the tourism industry, which experienced challenges in the first half of 2024, including disruptions in visa issuance between April and September of this year, seems to be unscathed.

In November alone, 103,315 tourists arrived, bringing the total number of arrivals this year to 1.72 million. Industry analysts are optimistic that the country will surpass its revised target of 2 million visitors by the end of the year.

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) projects nearly 200,000 arrivals for November, driven by heightened demand during the winter season.

India has been the leading source market, contributing 23,660 tourists in the first 17 days of November and 346,633 year-to-date (YTD). Russia and Germany followed, with 16,602 and 7,776 arrivals respectively. Russia has also overtaken the UK as the second-largest market with 154,201 visitors so far in 2024.

Better airline connectivity has boosted the recent tourism boom in the country. Charter flights, which stopped after the end of the civil war, restarted from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, while major carriers increased their frequencies.

This trend is likely to persist during the winter season, given that Sri Lanka was recently ranked as the “Most Desirable Island” by the UK’s Wanderlust travel magazine.

Going forward, Sri Lanka Tourism is leveraging the momentum with focused marketing and enhancing infrastructure to match demand.

This will also form the bedrock of future promotions in the form of a nationally branded campaign, highlighting multi-dimensional appeal and prospects as a 365-day destination.

Industry players, however, observed that improvement in the sector still has to be addressed in streamlining processes and enhancing the ease of doing business to avoid such disruptions in the future.

Despite these disruptions, the tourism sector should post a good close to 2024 with a proper strategy toward continued growth next year.