Milinda Moragoda, the Minister of Tourism, Sri Lanka has been busy of late. And no, it?s not to strategise on developing the country?s tourism industry. Instead, it is in an attempt to mobilise the tourism machinery to provide aid to the one hundred thousand plus civilians rescued from the northeastern corner of the country.

For a country which earns about a tenth of its GDP from tourism, the road to recovery may lie through how well it is able to regenerate this crucial aspect of its economy.

Tourism in Sri Lanka has definitely taken a setback. The country abstained from participating in South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange 2009 held in Delhi recently. ?Sri Lanka had been an integral part of SATTE for the last 10 years. But they decided not to participate this year. Inbound tourism in Sri Lanka has been suffering for the past couple of months ? the rates and occupancy have been low. That could be a possible reason,? feels Navin S Berry, MD, SATTE. Berry says Sri Lanka has curtailed its presence in ITB Berlin too.

It?s a double whammy. India, a major tourism generating market to Sri Lanka, with a market share of 19.4%, is shying away from the destination. ?The bookings to Sri Lanka have completely dried up in the past one month and a half ? despite the fact that the package rates are attractive, fares are low and it?s holiday season. The country had been promoting Ramayana tours for the past 8-10 months and if it were not for this humanitarian crisis, they would have recovered a lot of business,? says Ashish Kishore, Head of Hotel and Retail business, Yatra.com. ?Thailand and Nepal, the nearest destinations on the price line have gained in the bargain,? he adds. Berry too points out at ?Sri Lankan Airlines pulling out from five of its 11 destinations in India. They might pull out from a couple more.? Others such as Subhash Goel, Chairman of STIC Travel Group, however feel ?despite the troubled situation in Sri Lanka, there?s been little impact on its tourism.?

Sri Lanka has its post-conflict strategy in place. Delegates from the ministry are already focussing on the conflict-torn east, famous for its beaches. And if all goes well, a new brand of Sri Lanka tourism will be launched in June ? possibly an attempt to come out of the terror shadow. 2,50,000 campaign post cards and discount booklets will be distributed and a host of events have been lined up to attract tourists to the country. A spokesperson from the Sri Lankan Airlines also hinted at a host of tourism promotional events as soon as the crisis comes to an end.

Forecasts for the near future are mixed. According to the PATA Tourism Forecasts for 2009-2011, Sri Lanka will remain in negative territory but the region will benefit as a whole from an increase in international arrivals to over nine million by 2011.

The country has also slipped five places and now ranks at 78 (out of 133) in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index 2009.

However, getting back on the track might be easy for the island nation, given its vast tourism potential, even for the erstwhile conflict-ridden northeast.

Falling Footfalls

• Tota• tourist arrivals upto March 2009 amounted to 106,702, showing a drop of 21.3% compared to the same period in the previous year.

• India was the major tourist generating market to Sri Lanka in 2008, recording a market share of 19.4%.

• Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during 2008 amounted to 438,475. This was a decrease of 11.2% over 2007 arrivals.

• The foreign exchange earnings decreased by 12.8% from US$ 384 mn in 2007 to US$ 319.5 mn in 2008. Foreign Exchange Receipts per tourist per day recorded a decrease to US$ 76.7 in 2008 from US$ 79.1 in the previous year, a decrease of US$ 2.4.

• Though, tourism retained its position as the sixth largest FE earner, employment generated in the tourism sector (both direct and indirect) decreased by 14.3% (124,456) in 2008.

Source: Sri Lanka Tourist Development Authority