New sustainable niche strategy launched to re-energise tourism sector

USAID Mission Director Gabrial Grau (3rd from left) and Director General, Ministry of Tourism and Lands, Suranga Vithanage (4th from left), unveiling the niche tourism categories under the new strategy. Also present are (from left) Reneera Paul - USAID, Glenn Mackenzie-Frazer - Chief of Party USAID-IPOP Project, Upali Rathnayake - Deputy Director-General SLTDA, Krishantha Fernando - General Manager SLCB and Dr Michelle Pinkowski - Project Director, USAID-IPOP Project

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) recently launched a sustainable niche strategy to “re-energise” the tourism sector.
Categories such as adventure tourism, cultural experiences, hosted/curated experiences, and wellness and healing tourism would be uplifted under the new strategy.

The launch of the strategy is a step forward in USAID’s Indo-Pacific Opportunity Project (IPOP), and is expected to further support SLTDA to bring niche tourism businesses into the formal sector and help define outreach efforts going forward.

“The new sustainable niche tourism strategy will be a catalyst to help further boost these numbers and help Sri Lanka’s tourism sector get back on track and bolster the country’s economic recovery,”said USAID Mission Director to Sri Lanka and Maldives Gabriel Grau.

Meanwhile, commenting on the support extended by the USAID, SLTDA  Deputy Director General Upali Rathnayake said the niche strategy marks a new paradigm for positioning Sri Lanka’s tourism offering and will help fully exploit its potential to be a high-yielding, experience-driven destination.

Sri Lanka arrivals rose 30 percent in the first quarter over the same period a year ago, however, the segment is highly competitive.  Successful implementation of the new strategy will allow Sri Lanka to better establish its brand identity, increase its appeal and market share, create jobs and opportunities across the tourism sector, and generate much-needed foreign exchange.

USAID launched the tourism activity under IPOP in July 2022 to support economic reforms and promote foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka. The two-year project is assisting SLTDA to streamline and implement new policies and procedures to enable fast-tracking and attraction of foreign direct investment in the tourism sector.