Sri Lanka risks falling from a top global destination to just one of many choices
A recent article titled “Move over Sri Lanka! This gorgeous Island Is Asia’s new vacation hotspot” got me thinking…seriously. It went on to say, “Sri Lanka has been on a surprising tear for years as Asia's new island hotspot, no matter if you're up for a solo adventure with jungle-piercing train rides or seeking your own slice of paradise on what feels like untouched coastline. That's not to say Sri Lanka's time is up, but there's another island rising to stardom known as Asia's “Hawaii”.
“Time is up” is the key word here because the Island faces a serious risk of being downgraded from a “top destination” to merely “one of many options” in future travel decisions. I am reminded of the 1974 song titled “ Time waits for no one” by the Rolling Stones – especially the line “…And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me… And just as time waits for no one, it will not for Sri Lanka unless, as Zubin Karkaria, Founder and CEO of VFS Global Group remarked “Whilst Sri Lanka has enormous promise, but it requires effective tourism promotion both in terms of investment and consistency - areas that can be challenging”.
Absence carries more risk than ever.
As per the Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism (SLT), the country’s tourism industry is at a pivotal moment, with the emphasis on a unified national brand to elevate Sri Lanka’s global perception. According to him, the plan is to move beyond the use of individual campaign taglines, by introducing an unified national brand for Sri Lanka in January that will reshape the country’s global tourism image.
Echoing the SLT’s Chairman’s comments, the Deputy Director General of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), emphasised that going forward the foremost concern will be positioning Sri Lanka under a single brand for the next 20-30 years, avoiding the frequent changes of the past. He went on to say that the process of finalising Sri Lanka’s unified brand is underway particularly in terms of its digital presence.
The above comments by the SLT Chairman and the DDG of SLTDA were made in December 2024…and we are now near the end of 2025!
Get to grips with the data
One of the most fundamental problems is lack of useful data. Sri Lanka needs to get serious about developing data sets that don’t just monitor tourism numbers but provide the benchmarks for effective forecasting as well. Encouraging the many players within the sector to share data like occupancy levels, arrivals numbers, seasonal variations and more, and developing the expertise to analyse it and find trends are crucial to success.
If Sri Lanka is really serious about stimulating and managing growth, effective government spend to promote tourism, combined with non-constraining policies, modern infrastructure, impactful marketing, sensible regulations, and meaningful partnerships must all come together. The most forceful measures are those that reduce friction and pain points for travelers, enhance destination appeal, and increase private-sector capability to deliver memorable experiences. For all that to happen, the government of the day has to commit proper funds to the process and whilst it struggles to do just that, the world keeps moving on.
Shafeek Wahab - Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Mystery Guest Auditor, Ex-Hotelier
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