Sri Lanka Tourism Research Articles

FUTURE TRENDS IN EMPLOYEE REQUIREMENT IN HOTEL AND RESTAURANT SECTOR IN SRI LANKA

This paper aims to forecast future employee requirements in the hotel and restaurant sector in Sri Lanka and identify the correlation between different labour categories with tourist arrivals. The literature illustrates the fact that there is a significant shortage of forecasted data on labour in the hotel and restaurant sector, particularly in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this research fulfilled the empirical gap forecasting the future employee requirements in the hotel and restaurant sector in Sri Lanka. Secondary data were used and analyzed using quantitative techniques. Annual data were obtained from annual statistical reports from 2000 to 2018 published by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority in Sri Lanka. The linear regression model was used to forecast different employee categories in the hotel and restaurant sector and Karl Pearson’s correlation was used to test the correlation between labour categories (independent variables) and tourist arrivals (dependent variable). Findings indicate that there is a positive and very strong relationship between tourist arrivals and different labour categories since the coefficient of correlation is more than 0.8 in all relationships. The study forecasts that 2.4. million foreign tourists will arrive in Sri Lanka in 2024 and 146105 employees in different categories in the hotel and restaurant sector in Sri Lanka is required. As compared to the required labour force with the existing employees, hotel and restaurant sector in Sri Lanka is required 24898 employees in 2024. Thus, the study provides better insight into future trends of employability requirements of the hotel and restaurant sector which leads to preventing the risk and uncertainties in future manpower planning in the industry.

Challenges and Issues Confronting Sri Lanka in Museum Tourism Development

AbstractCultural tourism has emerged as a growing sector of the global tourism industry. Theme‐based museums have evolved as important partners in this burgeoning sector of the national economy. However, the statistics recorded only 29% of foreign tourists visiting museums during their visits to Sri Lanka in 2018–2019. This research identifies the prevailing challenges and issues museums face in developing museum tourism as a part of the national tourism strategy. This study has been narrowed down into the cluster of museums administered by the Department of National Museums of Sri Lanka as it is the major governmental body responsible for maintaining the national museums. The researcher conducted 18 semi‐structured interviews with administrative positions in the Department of National Museums (DNM) and Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) in order to collect qualitative data during the study period of January to July 2019. Findings revealed the key challenges and issues as limited visitor facilities, funding barriers, structural barriers, emerging technologies, location and access barriers, limited collection, and unpublished competition in diversifying museum tourism experience in Sri Lanka. Finally, the researchers summarize the paper with a set of recommendations that may be useful for museum practitioners facing similar challenges.

Study on Business Performance of Boutique Hotels after Easter Sunday Attacks in Sri Lanka

Tourism sector of Sri Lanka had a rapid growth and identified as the largest source of income in Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, 2018. Easter attack which took place in April 2019 resulted a severe hit to the Boutique hotels in Sri Lanka. The purpose to conduct this study was to identify how Boutique hotels in Sri Lanka are working to regain their business performance after the Easter Sunday attack. The data for this research were assembled employing a strategy of qualitative data. Data were collected through twelve face-to-face semi structured interviews and analyzed base on content analysis by using Word cloud. Many employees in the tourism sector have lost their jobs due to this attack. The majority of the owners stated that now they are focusing more on local customers instead of foreigners. Owners use social media platforms and special discount packages (credit card and visa card discounts) to attract local customers. Banks and financial institutions have offered some loan schemes for hotels to regain their performance. The outcomes will offer assistance for the individuals who are predominantly or indirectly related to the Boutique hotels of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. In addition to that, this research will assist proper understanding about if the hoteliers have to face crises like the Easter Sunday attack again, how they manage their business performances by using considerable factors of Boutique hotels in Sri Lanka. Since the revenue generated from tourism industry is more important to the Sri Lankan economy, the respected authorities can focus more on the Boutique hotel sector and make arrangements to re-establish the lost revenues in the Sri Lankan economy.
 Keywords: Boutique Hotels, Business Performance, Crisis, Easter Sunday Attack

Experiential Marketing, Destination Image, and Tourists’ Destination Loyalty (Reference to Tourists’ Cultural Destinations in Sri Lanka)

Today, tourism has become a growing industry to develop the world economy. Among varied destinations, cultural destinations are more popular in the world. Among the South Asian countries, Sri Lanka (SL) is a popular tourists’ destination as it has promoted its 2000 year aged history and eight world heritage sites to attract more tourists. As a reason, the 'number of tourists visited Sri Lanka' has increased by year by year. However, the recent statistics released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, have proved that tourists’ growth rate was gradually decreased to 3.5% from 43% since 2010. Meanwhile, All the cultural places in Sri Lanka have visited around 0.2 million tourists except Pollonnaruwa and Sigiriya, these two places have visited by 0.8 million tourists. Another thing is all the museums have visited by very few tourists (around 14000) except the national museum. Therefore, based on this least attraction, this research addresses the effect of experiential marketing to upgrade tourists’ destination’s loyalty through the mediating effect of the destination image. Independent variable of the study was 'experiential marketing' and the dependent variable was 'destination loyalty'. The population of the study has represented by all tourists who have visited cultural areas in the year 2019. 600 tourists have selected as the sample through the convenient sampling technique. Valid and reliable research questionnaire has used to collect data. Data analyzed through the AMOS software, where all the research questions and objectives have achieved. Findings proved that experiential marketing has significantly and positively affected destination loyalty and destination image without the mediating effect of the destination image. Therefore, researchers have suggested suitable strategies to develop cultural areas with more exciting events and activities with greater hospitality to attract and keep more tourists, being obeying to five factors of experiential marketing such as tourists’ sense, feel, think, act and relate.
 Keywords: Experiential Marketing, Destination Loyalty, Destination Image, Cultural Destination, Tourism

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES ON DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING RAMAYANA TRAIL TOURISM IN SRI LANKA

This study has been conducted related to the Ramayana tourism concept in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau has launched the Ramayanaya Trail with the private sector to target the top-ranked Indian market over to Sri Lanka for religious reasons and other travel purposes. With the literature shreds of evidence by Ramayana epic Sri Lanka has significant cultural value on Ramayana trail with more than 50 relevant sites. With the findings of previous studies related to the Ramayana trail in the Sri Lankan context and surveys by local travel agents, there is no considerable popularity for the Ramayana trails sites among Indian tourists who visited Sri Lanka. Thus, the study has focused on developing and promoting issues of Ramayana tourism in the Sri Lankan context. The study was conducted under the qualitative approach to achieve the research objective to identify the issues and challenges of developing and promoting Ramayana trail as a cultural tourism product in Sri Lanka under the case study research design by considering Ramayana tourism in Sri Lanka as a case. The qualitative interview method was conducted by the snowball sampling method among Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and 20 local tour operators and filed observations in 11 Ramayana sites in Sri Lanka were done as the primary data collection. Core issues and challenges have been identified under two categories as site-based and organizational-based.

EXPLORING TOURIST PERCEPTIONS ON BUDDHIST TEMPLE STAY PROGRAMS IN SRI LANKA

Temple stay program is a newly formed but comparably mature religious and cultural tourism product in Sri Lanka that accommodates and caters to tourists in Buddhist temples and allows them to experience Theravada Buddhist traditions and culture. Through, temple stay program turns out to be a distinctive phenomenon which successfully establishes a unique identity of Buddhist culture and tourism, as well as expand the influence of Theravada Buddhism. However, the respective authorities have paid a little attention to religious and cultural purposes when visiting Sri Lanka by tourist. As a result, the main issue for this study stems from this scenario. Sri Lanka is researching and trying to launch new products, including Buddhist temple stay program, for the Sri Lankan tourism industry to attract more tourists who will benefit to tourism development. Education of Buddhist philosophy, spiritual development, develop self confidence, develop psychological strength and culture of Sri Lanka are main areas covered by temple stay program in Sri Lanka. This study is aim to gain and understanding on the current tourist perception on temple stay program in Sri Lanka. The main objectives of this study are: a) to identify the current behavioral pattern of tourist who engaged with temple stay programs in Sri Lanka; 2) to examine tourist perception on Buddhist temple stay programs in Sri Lanka as a concept of tourism development; 3) to identify the challenges facing by tourist while engage with Buddhist temple stay programs in Sri Lanka. This study conducted using structured questionnaire to collect primary data with 80 local and foreign tourist who engaged with temple stay programs in Kandy, Gampaha and Badulla district in Sri Lanka. The major source for information was the qualitative tool of in-depth interviews with tourists. Secondary data sources such as previous studies were the most significant used in this study; books, journals, reports, magazines and online data sources. The simple statistical analyses like demographic details and other patterns can be performed using the MS Excel software. The results of this study indicate that there is a positive tourist perception about temple stay programs in Sri Lanka. The respective authorities need to be identify the lacking areas and in order to develop strategies to maintain standards and improve temple stay programs in Sri Lanka. KEYWORDS: Temple stay program,Buddhist tourism, Spiritual tourism ,Tourism industry

Long-Run Nexus of Tourism and Economic Growth in Sri Lanka: Empirical Evidence Using Cointegration Analysis

This study investigates the association between economic growth and tourism in Sri Lanka using cointegration analysis for the period 1980 to 2019. The analysis was performed using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test, Phillips-Perron test, Engle-Granger cointegration, and Granger causality tests. The results revealed a long-run equilibrium relationship among variables while there is a disequilibrium in the short run. The estimated error correction term is theoretically acceptable and approximately 5 per cent yearly correction of its disequilibrium in the short run was found. Granger causality test presented a long-run unidirectional causality which is running from tourism to economic growth and thus findings confirm the tourism-led growth hypothesis in Sri Lanka tourism and development spectrum. Therefore, tourism has a significant positive impact on economic activities in the long run. Findings further emphasize that benefits of the economic development must be transferred to the further development of tourism to maintain a bilateral causality which is an important concept in this regard. It provides the rationale for the further development of productive policy strategies to attract more tourists to the country and upsurge visitor expenditures during their stay in Sri Lanka since Sri Lanka has significantly developed its accommodation capacities. Findings further reveal that the tourism sector must be developed parallel to the economic development to boost the growth through tourism. Therefore, all sectors, the government, private bodies, and voluntary organizations must become active partners in this endeavour, and policy implications need the focus of every aspect of enhancing tourism as a growth engine.

COVID-19 Outbreak, Impact on Sri Lankan Economy

We all have been affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is the ongoing menace to the all over the World, labeled as pandemic and worst economic shock in recent history. The Corona virus pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time. The pandemic is moving like a wave. But COVID-19 is much more than a health crisis, by stressing every one of countries it touches, it has the potential to create devastating social, economic and political crisis that will leave deep scars. COVID-19 initial impact on Chinas economy and Chinas consequent slowdown may have adverse economic impact on the rest of the world as well. Sri Lankan economy mainly depends on the foreign trade. China is the one of the major country linked with Sri Lankan tourism, investment and many agreements. It is the second largest source market for Sri Lanka in terms of tourism and imports and the main supplier of raw materials for textiles also. Therefore COVID-19 in China has been caused a significant impact on Sri Lankan economy. This article examines the impact of COVID-19 on the Sri Lankan economy, tourism, Apparel and Textiles, Poverty and Financial Market.Apparels, Sri Lanka major merchandise export, faced disruptions with earnings from textiles and garments falling by 27.6% in 2020. The tourism industry has collapsed, business are finding it more difficult to operate due to the impacts of the curfew. Demand for the tourism is dropped now. There is a real risk that COVID-19 will set back the Sri Lankan economy and cause higher unemployment, poverty and deprivation. There is considerable amount of Sri Lankan employers have been terminated in Middle East countries. The events and activities related to production and employment of most of small and medium enterprises are significantly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 and the impact on the wider economy has placed unprecedented pressure on Sri Lanka business. Therefore, proactive policy measures should be undertaken to mitigate the economic slowdown in Sri Lanka.

COVID-19's Discriminatory Burden on the Sri Lankan Economy Casts a Pall on the Disease

The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is a global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by coronavirus 2 that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). In December 2019, the new virus was discovered in Wuhan, China; a lockdown in Wuhan and other towns in Hubei province failed to stop the outbreak, and it spread to other areas of mainland China and the rest of the world. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and on March 11, 2020, it declared a pandemic. Many nations have seen viral variations develop or become prevalent since 2021, with the Delta, Alpha, and Beta versions being the most dangerous. More than 214 million cases and 4.47 million deaths had been confirmed as of August 27, 2021, making it one of the worst pandemics in history.The COVID-19 epidemic and its accompanying economic crises provide enormous problems, offering several unknowns and forcing painful trade-offs. Both crises are global in scope, yet their consequences are highly localized. Both crises require a swift policy response, even if it is rough around the edges. However, countries cannot do this on their own—global crises need global cooperation and coordination.To assist nations recover quicker from the COVID-19 epidemic, governments must fundamentally change policies and invest in public health, economic stimulation, and universal health care. The economic study cautions that a hodgepodge of previously implemented remedies would not succeed, and that governments must work together to speed up recovery. Working in silos is not an option in this global situation. Specifically, 54,452 Chinese visitors visited Sri Lanka in January–February 2019, while Chinese tourist arrivals decreased to 24,459 in the same time in 2020, representing a 55.1 percent reduction in Chinese tourist arrivals, and then dropped even further to 144 in 2021 (SLTDA 2020–21).COVID-19 has had a significant impact on Sri Lanka's tourist sector, which is the country's third-largest source of foreign revenue. In reality, the travel prohibitions, which also apply to domestic tourists, have harmed key tourism sites in Sri Lanka. COVID-19 has had a major influence on Sri Lanka's tourism industry, which is the country's third-largest source of foreign currency. In truth, the travel restrictions, which also apply to local tourists, have hurt Sri Lanka's most important tourist destinations. The second-largest donor was China.The COVID-19 epidemic has had far-reaching consequences in many aspects of life. It has, nevertheless, had a significant impact on the economy and poverty levels. Because of how the pandemic has damaged employment stability and household income in Sri Lanka, considerable poverty reduction efforts has been stalled.

Impact of COVID-19 on Sri Lankan Economy

This case study attempt to examine about impact of COVID-19 outbreak. The virus spread around the world. The virus affected the entire world economy. Let us analyze the economy of Sri Lanka. Consider GDP, employment, tourism, poverty and homelessness. Sri Lanka's economy has changed significantly in the last two years. The virus was created by human influence. Its impact is enormous. Sri Lanka's tourism industry has also seen a sharp decline in job losses. The manufacturing and services sector has been severely affected. This directly affects local producers. The collapse of imports and exports led to job losses and poverty. The dollar depreciated sharply due to inflation. This affected the total national income of Sri Lanka. Thus reducing the average income of an individual. As a result, there was a shortage of goods and services and the prices of goods went up. As a result, the poor, the middle class and the rich were severely affected economically. Therefore, appropriate measures should be taken to regain the economy while controlling the spread of the pandemic.

Electronic Word Mouth (E-WOM) as a Way-Forwarding Strategy to Uplift the Profitability of Boutique Hotels in COVID-19 Era

Electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) has gained a prominent place in hospitality industry by providing consumers a preview of the services before they purchase the particular services, since the services are intangible and perishable in the hospitality industry. Within that light, this study identifies the perceptions of boutique hotels operators on e-WOM. The objective of this study is to investigate the hoteliers’ perceptions on e-WOM as a strategy to enhance the profitability during COVID-19 era. The study caters to boutique hotels in the southern coastal belt and the sample consisted from supervisors and hotel managers related with handling e-WOM in boutique hotels. Purposive sampling technique was used to determine the sampling units and structured interviews were used to gather data. The qualitative analysis method has been adopted and conducted a content analysis to identify the data patterns. According to the findings, e-WOM defines the service, is less expensive, builds brand image, maintains customer relationships and is popular. Further the research predicate that capturing domestic markets, promoting uniqueness of Sri Lankan tourism and using brand ambassadors are ways to improve profitability of boutique hotels during post COVID-19 era. Recommendations provided from the findings as; (a) familiarizing with blogging (b) attention to website (c) researching on new e-WOM dissemination channels. The research would help in understanding and identifying the significance of e-WOM to enhance profitability of hotels post COVID-19 pandemic.

Conceptual Study on Socio-Economic Impact of the Decline in Firm Performances of Hotels in Sri Lanka

The study aims to determine the socio-economic impact of the decline in firm performances of hotels in Sri Lanka. Evidence from previous research found that 91% of the hotels listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) were in the distress zone and this study aims to fill the prevailing knowledge gap by determining the socio-economic impact of this decline. The study will be conducted using a sample of 33 hotels listed under the consumer services sector of the CSE, by considering the firm performance as the independent variable while the dependent variable is the socio-economic impact. The firm size was considered as the moderating variable. Indicators such as Return on Equity (ROE), Return on Assets (ROA) and occupancy rate derived from annual reports and other publications was used to measure firm performance while several indicators derived from statistical reports published by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) and Central Bank will be used to measure socio-economic impact. The research will be conducted during a period of 10 years from 2009 to 2019. Findings from the research will contribute to the existing literature on the assessment of socio-economic impacts and are beneficial to a variety of stakeholders such as hotel managers, government, tourist development authorities and upcoming researchers.

Impact of Social Media Marketing in Selecting Sri Lanka as a Tourist Destination

Social media provides a platform for tourism service providers to market their products and services at a lower cost. As tourist arrival to Sri Lanka has been increasing, interested stakeholders have started using social media marketing as a tool to promote Sri Lanka. Since only a limited number of studies have been carried out on the impact of social media marketing on the Sri Lankan tourism industry, this study was carried out to address this research gap. Subsequently, the study examines the impact of social media marketing, social media marketing content and social media marketing characteristics on the decision of travel destinations of tourists arriving in Sri Lanka. After studying many researchers that have been carried out in other countries, the conceptual framework was developed based on the available literature. A simple random sampling technique was applied to choose the respondents from the population and an online survey was carried out to collect data using a Google survey questionnaire and SPSS was utilized for data analysis. Based on the results, it was found that information, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and electronic word of mouth has a positive relationship with the purchase decision. However, perceived risk shows a negative relationship.

Intellectual Property Rights for Tourism-Related Traditional Knowledge: A Case Study of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is blessed with a century-old treasure trove of traditional knowledge and tourism is a key to unlock the hidden potential of Sri Lankan traditional knowledge for socio-economic and cultural development of the country. A prime example in this regard is the indigenous medical system that has existed for centuries. In today’s competitive business environment, intellectual property is the lifeblood of any industry, and protecting intellectual property assets is imperative to business success. In this sense, the intellectual property system offers the much-needed credibility for Sri Lankan traditional knowledge-based products and services. Undeniably, Ayurveda and indigenous medical systems have the potential to create unique experiences to attract tourists with a higher spending power. Moreover, historical monuments and heritage sites, cultural events, museums and other traditional knowledge-related activities are vital for promoting cultural tourism in Sri Lanka, just as traditional cultural performances constitute a source of tourist attraction and interest. Most significantly, intellectual property tools can help improve competitiveness in wellness tourism and other traditional knowledge-based sectors. It is, therefore, argued that linking intellectual property, traditional knowledge and tourism will significantly help Sri Lanka to become a 365-day tourist destination and ensure repeat visits by overcoming the elements of seasonality. Taking cognizance of the practical insights, this paper explores as to how best a carefully crafted intellectual property strategy can be utilized by traditional knowledge stakeholders to capitalize on business opportunities in the Sri Lankan tourism sector. It also highlights some of the important ways in which the intellectual property system can help position Sri Lanka as a global wellness tourism destination.

Sri Lankan Travel and Tourism Industry: Recent Trends and Future Outlook towards Real Estate Development

Tourism is considered as an important economic activity around the world due to its direct economic impact as well as it is significant indirect and induced impacts. Granting to the World Travel and Tourism Council, Travel and Tourism Industry is one of the world’s most significant economic sectors accounting for 10.4% of global GDP and 313 million jobs, or 9.9% of total employment, in 2017. The direct and indirect impact of the industry on real estate development in the world is tremendous in terms of accommodation, catering to food and beverages, leisure, pleasure and relaxation. In Sri Lanka, tourism is the third-largest export earner in the economy, and during the past five years, there has been an unprecedented growth in the industry. However, tourism in Sri Lanka has much more untapped potential; thereby, the sector is poised to generate a range of growth and investment opportunities. However, it is only through the right policies and investment decisions; Sri Lanka can leverage the economic prospects of the Travel and Tourism Industry. This study analyses the importance of the Travel and Tourism Industry in terms of real estate development. It reviews significant trends that are shaping the growth and development of the Travel and Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka and aim to produce useful inputs for policy implications. The analysis is based on modified Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008 published by World Travel and Tourism Council, and carried out analyzing both academic and non-academic publications, including published journal articles, annual and quarterly reports published by United Nations’ World Tourism Organization, World Travel and Tourism Council, World Economic Forum and Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and through the raw data obtained by World Travel and Tourism Council for Sri Lanka. As per the analysis, the future outlook is bright for the tourism sector in Sri Lanka, and the country is expected to maintain a high rate of growth well into the next decade.

Role of Social Media in Shaping Local Youth Tourists' Behaviour Across the Sri Lankan Tourism Industry

The integration of social networking and new technologies has changed the way of communication and information sharing among the people, especially of young people is a fact. As well as, the development of Social Media (SM) has conveyed important changes in the behavioural pattern of tourists. Therefore, it is very essential to understand this new influential trending among the youth tourists, in order to accelerate the tourists’ arrival and contribute to the development of Sri Lanka tourism. Therefore, this research aims at providing an insight to the Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka with regards to how social media platforms influence youth tourists’ behavior. A sample of 103 youth tourists’ response attained through online. The data obtained from the online survey were analyzed with descriptive, reliability test, mean and regression analysis.
 Results from the survey have identified that Social Media does influence in the youth tourists’ behaviour. In detail, eWOM and Online reviews/comments significantly influence in the behavior of youth tourists. And also the study confirmed that in order to attract tourists to a destination mainly revolves in the ability to convey the information to create positive images in the mind of youth tourists via social media. Thereby this study has recommended many suggestions for the Tourism and authorities. Including tourist authority should make its social media pages more interesting, appealing, informative and interactive so the customers can enjoy their social media experiences and they could spread eWOM and online reviews. And also they need to focus on how to create a positive and satisfactory image to their social media users in many other ways.

Post-COVID19 Challenges and Way Forward for Sri Lanka Tourism

The present study attempts to evaluate the impact of COVID19 on Sri Lanka tourism industry and to make recommendations on the tourism recovery process. The study considers three vital sectors to evaluate the impact on Sri Lanka tourism: impact on the source markets, impact on the local tourism resources, and impact of travel bans, suspension of flights and curfew regulations. The study also envisages on the potential tourist generating countries to Sri Lanka, future travel behavior of the potential tourists, future tourism products demanded, and future operational challenges for the tourism and hospitality establishments. The study finally forwards short-term strategies to protect and promote Sri Lankan tourism industry with multi-stakeholder participation.

Asymmetric relationship between tourist arrivals and employment

This article explores the relationship between the arrival of tourists and its impact on tourism-related employment. Considering the impact of tourist arrival on employment being asymmetric, we have analyzed the relationship using the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag method proposed by Shin et al. The article analyzed how arrivals impact on employment taking Sri Lanka as a reference country and have used annual data of the variables obtained from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. It is found that for an increase in the tourist arrival by 1000, the tourism-related job employment rises by 83.8. On the contrary, with the decline in tourist arrival by the same number, the corresponding reduction in job employment is 29.8. The relatively lower reduction in employment with the fall of tourist arrival provides relative stability of employment to the tourism workforce and is a socially desirable outcome.

Beyond Collapse: The Message of COVID–19 to the Sri Lankan Tourism Industry

The coronavirus (COVID – 19) is a grave and rapidly growing health concern, which not only affects Chinese economic growth but which also has a serious impact on the global economy. The tourism industry has made, and continues to make, a valuable contribution to Sri Lankan economic and socio cultural development. This research study describes how far Sri Lanka tourism industry has collapsed due to the COVID – 19? how can Sri Lanka possibly reshape of as a leading tourist destination in the world market? This study suggests two phases of different strategies to reshape the Sri Lankan tourism market. Phase 01 deals with short terms remedies to the current problem which has arisen due to the health crisis. SLTDA should begin to work with the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services in the following ways: Issuing certificates to hotels to ensure the health and safety management of the hotels’ staff, tourists and host community as well as security and hygiene arrangements at airports. Preparing detailed guidelines to establish quarantine hotels with employee safety and ensuring health safety of tourist guides and tourism related business. Phase 02 deals with with long–term strategies to rebuild the tourism industry in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka-China Tourism Relations An Analysis of Recent Trends in Chinese Tourist Arrivals to Sri Lanka

Tourism is widely recognised as one of the world’s largest and fastest growing industries, accounting for approximately 10% of the global GDP, and employing a growing workforce of 283.5 million. In the context of Sri Lanka, the tourism sector is the 3rd largest foreign income earner and the total contribution to the economy is around 12% of GDP. This paper examines the recent trends in Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka along with the comparative position of Sri Lanka as an outbound tourism destination of China. It is observed that during the period of 1984 – 1994, Germany held the number one spot in Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals. Until 2004, Germany, India and the UK were the ‘top 3’ countries among Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals, and China’s contribution to local tourism was insignificant. In 2014, however, China was raised to the rank of the 3rd major tourist partner of Sri Lanka, accountingfor 8.4% of total tourist arrivals. Moreover, Chinese tourist arrivals grew remarkably by 72.5% in 2010-2016, while Indian and UK tourist arrivals increased only by 19.3% and 10.3%, respectively. Furthermore, tourist arrivals from China increased by 68% in 2015 compared to 2014, while Indian tourist arrivals grew only by 30%. Despite the impressive growth rate in Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka, these numbers are negligible in comparison to Chinese outbound tourism to other countries. Even though Sri Lanka was among the top 25 tourist destinations of Chinese travellers in 2007, it no longer holds this valuable position. Thus, this study recommends promoting Sri Lankan tourism destinations, e-tourism sites, improving air-connectivity between the two countries and cultivating tourism-friendly ‘soft power’ by celebrating festivals such as Chinese New Year, increasing the number of Chinese-speaking guides and hotel staff and introducing Chinese-language apps for tourists in order to multiply prospective tourists from China.