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

Abstract

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 analysing 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.

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

“…This study follows the modified TSA: RMF 2008 (Figure 1) published by World Travel and Tourism Council in order to identify and explain the economic importance and trends of the Travel and Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka. The trends were identified through a review of 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 a descriptive analysis of the raw data obtained from Data Gateway of World Travel and Tourism Council [10].…”

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“…Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka expanded rapidly in 2004, reaching 566,202. By 2019, Sri Lanka was enjoying unparalleled tourism growth, with year-on-year increases of more than 22% (Munasinghe et al, 2019).…”

“…Asian travellers remained the most important initiator of tourism in Sri Lanka, recording for 45.1% of the total, accompanied by Western Europe (31.4%). In 2016, the occupancy rate of ranked accommodation was 74.76%, while total guest nights indicated in foreign hotels surged to 10.6 million guest nights, an increase of 18.4% over 2015 (Munasinghe et al, 2019). Sri Lanka is known for its tropical seaside resorts, water sports, deep-sea fishing, photography done beneath the surface of the water, shipwreck diving, coral reef diving, and whale watching.…”

A Literature Review on How Wellness Tourism Contribute to Re-Building Sri Lankan Tourism

“…As a sector which has major government influences, it is essential to initiate the right policies and investments on time to ensure that the country is up to date to grab the demand arising from international market specially catering to luxury hotel complexes, theme parks etc. Thus, under the established policies it seems the Sri Lankan tourism sector focuses on developing real estate as it's a vital in tourism business (Munasinghe et al, 2020). By the way, the manifesto of the current president of the country demonstrate that the tourism sector will be uplifted concerning different aspects of the industry specially focusing on sustainable tourism possessing the use of Ayurvedic values, as it has been already proved with current position of the country for its fast-growing wellness tourism (Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, 2020).…”

“…In addition, few of the research have mentioned that the alternative form of tourism depends on the performance and infrastructure development of other sectors as supplements and renovation of existing facilities, lack of knowledge, no significant correlation of tourism policy facts still affects as barriers on implementing such alterations in a country. Other than that, to have a sustainable tourism sector it is essential to focus on Building Information Modelling (BIM), Internet of Things (IOT), Going Green, Social Harmony and Human Rights in upgrading tourism sector (Munasinghe et al, 2020).…”