13 December 2023 12:13 am Views - 193
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has managed to fulfil nearly 66 percent of its revenue target for the first 11 months of the year, with November earnings totalling US$ 205.3 million.
The provisional data released by the Central Bank showed that tourism earnings for the January-November 2023 period have reached US$ 1.79 billion, achieved with tourist arrivals totalling 1,276,951.
When compared with the corresponding period in 2022, the cumulative earnings from tourism are a 78 percent increase year-on-year (YoY).
Although a staggering YoY increase, the island nation will fall short of its year-end target by over US$ 500 million. This is even if tourism earnings in December cross US$ 350 million.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority projects tourism earnings for the year 2023 to reach US$ 2.7 billion, with 1.55 million tourist arrivals.
However, despite an increase in the influx in tourist arrivals, the island nation lures low spenders, an issue highlighted by President Ranil Wickremesinghe on several occasions.
The recently introduced Minimum Room Rate is one of the many attempts made by authorities to get tourists to spend more during their visit. The move resulted in revenue increasing by about 25 percent for Colombo city hotels, but occupancy dropped by 16 percent, according to Tourism Minister Harin Fernando.
Wickremesinghe has urged tourism sector stakeholders to improve their products and services so that Sri Lanka can cater to high-end tourists.