Imagine walking around Colombo and stumbling along a street lined with food stalls selling typical Arabic fare from kebabs to pita bread with hummus. Then imagine stores lining the streets teeming with Middle Eastern clothing, accessories, books and furnishings. Take a turn and stroll into a miniature Chinatown adorned with red paper lanterns, bilingual street signs and hawker stands serving steaming food. Sure, it might not rival the legendary Chinatown’s in San Francisco and New York which are bustling hubs of trade and cultural icons but something on a smaller and more moderate scale may not be far away if numbers of Middle Eastern, Chinese and even Indian tourists continue to rise.
 In an interview with the Sunday Times FT this week, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Bernard Goonetilleke said the tourism industry is private sector driven and where there are opportunities and markets to compete in, specialized products will be created to the huge emerging markets in the Middle East, China and India. “Catering to different groups is done according to demand,” Mr. Goonetilleke said. “These new and emerging markets will grow and products will change but they have to be developed.”
Whereas tourists from China are interested in nightlife, casinos, frequenting restaurants and spending a few days at the beach with some side trips mixed in, Mr. Goonetilleke said tourists from the Middle East generally travel with their families and extended families. Middle Eastern tourists would also be more interested in shopping and activities for children.
He explained that Bangkok has enclaves which make you think you have entered the Middle East from people speaking Arabic to the food and dress. However, he pointed out that they did not spring up overnight. “We don’t have communities like that in Sri Lanka but they can be created if the demand is there. It would be a natural evolution.”
According to the latest tourism statistics, tourist arrivals in July 2009 increased by 28% to 42,223 from 32,982 in July 2008. However, total arrivals for the first seven months of 2009 are down 10.6% to 229,952 for the same period last year although Middle Eastern visitors increased by 103.7% in July to 4,149 from the same month last year. Visitors from China also increased by 2.9% to 685.
There was an 8% increase in tourist arrivals for June 2009 with tourists from Western Europe in June increased to 10,161 from 9,453 in June 2008, a 7.5 % increase. Tourists from India in June 2009 increased to 6,124 from 5,664 in June of last year, an 8.1% increase. Mr. Goonetilleke said the difference in the increase is not that different between the two markets. “We expect the traditional source of arrivals from Western Europe to continue and to increase.”
Mr. Goonetilleke also pointed out that out of the 8% increase in tourist arrivals in June 2009, there was a 10.9% increase in the number of tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom. Given the current global economic crisis which is making long distance travel more costly, tourists from traditional markets are still willing to come to Sri Lanka.
Mr. Goonetilleke said the arrivals patterns will change with more visitors from India, China and the South East Asian markets but that people who live in temperate climates need vacations. “They need to get away from the cold,” he said. “Apart from their fixed expenditure, they will put aside money for vacations.”
It was recently announced by the President that 2011 will be ‘Visit Sri Lanka’ year and a target of 2.5 million tourists by the year 2016 has been set. “This is a fairly big target when tourist arrivals in 2008 were 438,000 but it is an attainable goal provided everything is in place.” Mr. Goonetilleke explained that in order to meet the 2.5 million target, there must be a 30% increase each year in the number of arrivals. Tourism also slipped down to the sixth largest foreign exchange earner for the country from fourth place last year. However, the industry is targeting a tourist income of US$130 per day from the current rate of US$80.
He also said that in order to meet the target, an additional 36,000 rooms are needed to the current 14,000. This breaks down into approximately 5,000 or 6,000 additional hotel rooms per year. In order to facilitate an increased number of tourists flyin into the country, the industry must work with airlines and implement a huge infrastructure development programme.
Mr. Goonetilleke said a high powered committee under the leadership of the President will be appointed by the end of this month to ensure a plan is implemented. This means working closely with the Board of Investment (BOI) to make sure certain facilities and incentives such as tax breaks will be given to investors. “A lot of people have visited Sri Lanka and made inquiries on the availability of land all over the country,” he said. Mr. Goonetilleke added that there has to be a construction programme to facilitate the building of hotels in such a short period of time. He estimated that it will cost Rs.15 million to construct one 5 star hotel room.
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