Sri Lanka Tourism News

Tourism has become a major economic activity in Sri Lanka during 1970s. However, the notable development in the Sri Lankan tourism sector was recorded after the liberalization of the economy in the early 18’s. Since then the island has become s leading holiday destination in the world and tourism has been able to become a leading foreign exchange earner for the country.

In recent years, however, the tourism industry has grown rapidly in Sri Lanka, especially after the civil war in Northern and Eastern parts of the island.

The industry has been significantly hampered by the political unrest in the period of 1983 to 2009. As a result, Sri Lanka’s major source countries for tourism (Germany, France, England, Switzerland, Italy and Holland) advised their citizens not to travel to some parts of the island, in some occasion, they warned the citizens travelling all around the island. as the civil war in northeast Sri Lanka ended in 2009 most countries withdrew their negative travel advisories paving the way for the development of the industry. There have been some positive signs emerging recently regarding the tourism industry, reflecting that the industry is gradually gaining normalcy.

The Sri Lankan government regards tourism as a priority sector from the viewpoint of achieving sustainable economic growth and reducing Sri Lanka’s dependence on tea, rubber and coconut which is subject to price fluctuation.

New hotel project in southern Sri Lanka

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) has come to an agreement with LAXX MORE Hotels (Private) Limited to commence and operates a 5-star hotel project. This is comprised of 176 room hotel.

The project is an investment of US $ 35 million and will create 355 new employment opportunities.

The agreement was signed by Managing Director of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Mangala Yapa; Mr Ganeshanathan signed the agreement. Srikanth Dash, Business Development Chairman, Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts, the Maldives, who manages the hotel project, was also present on the occasion.

Sri lanak presidential election in 2019 – high hopes for the tourism industry

The election to choose 7th executive president of sri lanak was successfully concluded with the high turn-up of votes. The election result was issued by the department of election show a clear majority of votes for the SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapakse. Sri Lanka tourism sector was severely affected by the after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan Catholic community on 21st April 2019. More than 100 people were killed in multiple bomb attacks masterminded by ISIS. At the wake of deteriorated security in the country, the people of Sri Lanka have chosen Mr Rajapakse as the 7th executive president of Sri Lanka.

The commercial flight between Jaffna and Chennai to begin on 13 November 2019

First time in the history Alliance air, a subsidiary of air Indian starts its direct flights to Jaffna international airport from India. The first scheduled flight will be arriving at the Jaffna international airport on 13 November 2019. Alliance Air has planned to operate 3 direct flights between two cities (Chennai and Colombo) in the week on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.  The flight departs from Jaffna at 12.45 pm and arrives at the Chennai airport at 2.10 pm.

The commercial flight between 2 cities starts an after 41 years and all economic activates were severely hindered in the northern peninsula due to the 3 decades-long ethnic conflict that ended in 2009. The passengers from Jaffna can also continue their journey to other destination in India with connecting flights.

Sri Lanka Tourism development plan for Katana

Sri Lanka government led by united people freedom alliance (UPFA) is planning a large-scale tourism development plans for Katana electorate in Gampaha district. Authorities are planning to improve the tourism infrastructure in the region aiming to turn Katana in tourism hub in the district. The project will be launched with the help of economic development ministry and tourism ministry.

Land with 80 hectares in extent will be allocated for the project, and which is located near the Bandaranaike international airport, Colombo, Katunayake. Facilities such as hotels, restaurants, airline services, nightclubs and recreation facilities for holidaymakers, shopping facilities will be also developed in the region. There are four five star hotels to be built with 2300 rooms under the plan and the hotels are equipped with all modern facilities such as shopping malls, exhibitions centres, convention centres, access for all the modern communication facilities.

The proposal for the project was submitted to the approval of cabinet by Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa. After being granted the green light from the cabinet, the Ministry of Economic Development is yet to start with feasibility studies of the plan.

It is estimated that the project will generate 10,000 jobs at the completion of the development plan and it is to be completed in a few stages. The government is expected to invest the first stage of the plan wi