The Hon. (Prof.) Ruwan Ranasinghe - Deputy Minister of Tourism

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, I provide the following:

¶ 02 (a) (i) As per the annex, the number of registered star-class hotels is 31. Years in operation are listed in the final column. Room capacity is 4,787. Data on direct and indirect employees are not available with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA). Annex placed in the Library.

¶ 03 (ii) Data not available with SLTDA.

¶ 04 (iii) From 2010 to 2025, the figures are as follows:

¶ 05 Year — Arrivals — Total Earnings (USD mn) — Per Capita Earnings (USD) 2010 — 654,476 — 576 — 880.09 2011 — 855,975 — 839 — 980.17 2012 — 1,005,605 — 1,038 — 1,032.21 2013 — 1,274,593 — 1,716 — 1,346.31 2014 — 1,527,153 — 2,431 — 1,591.85 2015 — 1,798,380 — 2,981 — 1,657.60 2016 — 2,050,832 — 3,519 — 1,715.89 2017 — 2,116,407 — 3,925 — 1,854.56 2018 — 2,333,796 — 4,381 — 1,877.20 2019 — 1,913,702 — 3,607 — 1,884.83 2020 — 507,704 — 683 — 1,345.27 2021 — 194,495 — 507 — 2,606.75 2022 — 719,978 — 1,136 — 1,577.83 2023 — 1,487,303 — 2,068 — 1,390.44 2024 — 2,053,465 — 3,169 — 1,543.25 2025 — 2,362,521 — 3,219 — 1,362.53

¶ 06 (iv) Not available with SLTDA.

¶ 07 (v) Not available with SLTDA.

¶ 08 (b) (i) Average length of stay (nights):

¶ 09 2010: 10.0; 2011: 10.0; 2012: 10.0; 2013: 8.6; 2014: 9.9; 2015: 10.1; 2016: 10.2; 2017: 10.9; 2018: 10.8; 2019: 10.4; 2020: 8.5; 2021: 15.1; 2022: 9.0; 2023: 8.4; 2024: 8.4; 2025: 8.3.

¶ 10 (ii) Based on the 2018 and 2024/25 exit surveys, approximately 18% of total arrivals are repeat visitors.

¶ 11 (iii) Country-wise arrivals (for the listed countries) by year from 2020 to date are provided in the annexed table. [Selected excerpts as read into the record included figures for Singapore, Thailand, Japan, USA, China, UK, Malaysia, Dubai, India, Turkiye, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, France and Canada.] Annex placed in the Library.

¶ 12 (c) (i) We have identified 13 key weaknesses of the tourism industry: 1. Inadequate identification and development planning of attractions at provincial level leading to insufficient infrastructure. 2. Limited updating and innovation in research and development, slowing sectoral growth. 3. Underutilization of digitalization, reducing service efficiency. 4. Failure to adopt modern national branding and destination marketing, limiting diversification of activities, especially digital promotions. 5. Coordination weaknesses between public and private institutions in the sector. 6. Over-focus on traditional sightseeing rather than offering unique, authentic, experience-based services. 7. Insufficient investment and weaknesses in destination management. 8. Low public awareness of tourism’s potential, limiting community participation and business opportunities. 9. Inadequate incorporation of disaster-risk considerations into strategic planning. 10. Insufficient reliable data and expert knowledge, constraining evidence-based project development. 11. Inadequate, scientific studies on destination carrying capacity, impairing proper planning and negatively affecting yield and quality. 12. Ongoing efforts via the Presidential Performance Task Force to coordinate public-private stakeholders to address key sectoral issues and solutions. 13. Initiation of discussions with Online Travel Agents (OTAs) to regulate registered service providers and room allotments through OTAs.

¶ 13 (ii) Eleven negative impacts have been identified: 1. Sluggish regional tourism development due to weak infrastructure. 2. Reduced competitiveness from lack of innovative products/services. 3. Lower tourist satisfaction due to service inefficiencies. 4. Difficulty attracting new markets due to limited diversification. 5. Project delays and resource wastage due to inter-institutional coordination gaps. 6. Lower repeat visitation due to lack of experience-based services. 7. Reduced facility development and income due to investment/management weaknesses. 8. Limited local economic benefits due to low community participation. 9. Severe shocks during emergencies due to poor disaster planning. 10. Poor data/expertise leading to weak decision-making and limited data-driven projects. 11. Overuse, environmental harm and reputational damage from ignoring carrying capacity—overall constraining sustainable tourism.

¶ 14 (iii) Eleven measures being implemented: 1. Prepare provincial master plans and prioritize infrastructure development; work initiated. A Presidential Task Force has been established to strengthen inter-agency coordination and decision-making. 2. Strengthen R&D and innovation programmes to develop new tourism products/services. 3. Implement digital technologies and e-tourism solutions to boost service efficiency. 4. Introduce modern branding and marketing strategies; a new market promotion campaign has commenced. 5. Establish a robust public–private coordination mechanism to improve project execution. 6. Develop experience-based tourism products offering unique visitor experiences. 7. Attract domestic and foreign investment and strengthen destination management. 8. Implement community-based tourism to enhance local participation. 9. Integrate disaster risk management into strategic plans and improve preparedness. 10. Establish reliable tourism data systems and enhance expert capacity to promote evidence-based decisions. 11. Conduct scientific carrying-capacity studies and introduce sustainable visitor management.

¶ 15 (d) Not applicable.