ExCel: Sri Lanka Tourism aims to generate over USD 2.5 billion in revenue next year and is hoping to achieve a revenue of USD 3. 5 billion from the industry in 2024, said Minister of Tourism, Harin Fernando, at the WTM Expo.
“We will launch an international PR campaign to reach this target,” he said.
The Minister said that Sri Lanka has already surpassed the USD 1 million revenue mark for this year.
He said that Sri Lanka will set up 40 specialised tourism zones all over the county exposing more tourism areas to the world. “It will also permit the economic benefits from the industry to trickle to more rural areas as well.”
The Minister said that Sri Lanka Tourism, will also introduce an app for foreigners enabling them to get all services in one go from hotel bookings to transport including taxi and tuk tuk bookings, and sightseeing. “This app will also include a special security feature enabling the safety of tourists.”
Fernando said that for the first time ‘Ballooning’ would be introduced to Yala National Park permitting guests the opportunity to watch animals from midair. This service is expected to be launched in January.
This would be later introduced to other national parks and the Hambantota area as well.
While the extension of closing hours of entertainment establishments until 2.30 a.m. would promote nightlife, many events would be hosted in Colombo in December with international participation, he said.
He said the program to woo FIFA World Cup fans during days they don’t have matches (around four days) was also aggressively promoted during WTM. “We have allocated special hotels and areas in Negombo for this and have offered a USD 900 package including airfare for this.”