ECONOMYNEXT – The Asian Development Bank is ready to support Sri Lanka’s tourism sector to earn more revenue while protecting the island’s natural assets, officials said as the country sees a recovery in visitor volumes.
“The ADB is preparing a project that we would like to finance in the tourism space, which will support policy actions in the tourism sector to increase resilience to shocks and strengthen institutions, and potentially streamline decision making as well,” Takafumi Kadono, Country Director, ADB Sri Lanka Resident Mission said.
There were concerns raised over visitation of nature reserves and also whale watching.
“Tourism is not without its challenges,” Takeo Konishi, Director General, South Asia Regional Department, ADB said.
“Some of the pre-COVID-19 challenges such as over-tourism are reoccurring in a variety of destinations, and protests by residents against visitors numbers and visitor behavior is now occurring.
“Sustainable and resilient tourism doesn’t happen by itself; it requires a concerted effort.
“From the generating markets in Europe, People’s Republic of China, Japan, Australia, to name a few, all the way to destinations like Thailand, Nepal, Indonesia, and, of course, Sri Lanka.”
ADB is partnering with various stakeholders in Sri Lanka to make tourism more resilient and more sustainable.
Part of that support is focusing on improving the resilience of the tourism sector.
“ADB recognizes two approaches to resilience. First, climate resilience by ensuring we conserve the nature, natural and cultural attraction of the country through adaptive and mitigative measures.
“Second, market resilience by ensuring Sri Lanka has something to offer for different markets from across the world and ideally market segment that brings higher income to the country.”
Sri Lanka can further improve its biodiversity offer, particularly through wildlife tourism, ADB said.
“With such a healthy number of iconic species such as the birds and elephants and blue whales, the country has the potential to be a much higher value destination than it currently is.
ADB is a firm believer in the need for sharing responsibility between the private and public sector in tapping into the resources available to Sri Lanka for higher value sustainable tourism, Konishi said.
“The total number of visitors to Sri Lanka only tells half of the story. Now it’s important to extract value for each visitor in economics and conservation terms.”
The two were speaking at an ADB knowledge sharing event held in Colombo recently. The “Serendipity Knowledge Program” (SKOP) is ADB’s knowledge program dedicated to Sri Lanka, designed to respond effectively to the country’s needs in line with the vision of ADB as a knowledge solutions bank.
SKOP seeks to share knowledge on issues relevant to Sri Lanka and facilitate discussion among stakeholders.
Sri Lanka’s Minister of Wildlife, Forest Resources Conservation, and Irrigation Pavithra Wanniarachchi has said that compared to the past two years, 2024 is expected to see a significant rise in the number of local and foreign tourists visiting attractions managed by the Department of Forest Conservation.
364,521 tourists visited in the first half of 2024, she told reporters at the Presidential Media Centre on Sunday (28). (Colombo/Jul29/2024)