Tourism Alliance releases report on global travel demand for Sri Lanka

The Tourism Alliance has released a comprehensive report analyzing international traveller demand for Sri Lanka utilizing search data. 

Currently tourism trends are analyzed through visitor arrivals. As a majority of potential travellers’ research holidays online, search terms and volumes can gauge future tourist arrival trends. 

Some of the key areas in the report covers critical questions such as which markets are searching for Sri Lanka? Top Sri Lankan hotels by online demand, pick up comparison compared to last year, safety related search trends and which experiences are in demand. 

“The Tourism Alliance commissioned the Sri Lanka Demand Insights and Trends Report from our digital solutions partner Antyra which analyzed 5,062 keywords relating to Sri Lanka. Flights, Travel, Hotels, Tours, Destinations, Activities, Hotel Brands etc. were used to understand the overall online demand for Sri Lanka,” said Malik Fernando, Chair of the Tourism Alliance. 

The downloadable report offers year-to-date trends and demand for experience types and hotel brands up to the end of September 2022. The October data will be published in November. 

Unsurprisingly, the report revealed a significant drop in demand, in line with feedback the industry receives that consumer overseas are unaware of the improvements in the ground situation. 

The findings were utilized by the Tourism Alliance to launch the first ever private sector-driven mini destination marketing campaign, themed “Fall in Love Again” to help drive winter season bookings. “The objective of the campaign is to reignite the desire to visit Sri Lanka by promoting a positive message about readiness to welcome tourists and to help dispel the widely held belief that the country is still in strife, amidst shortages” added Fernando. 

The Alliance started the mini digital Destination Marketing campaign on 1st of October focusing on the UK and Europe with encouraging results.  The report also includes results of the first 30 days of the campaign, and can be downloaded on srilankatourismalliance.org