Requests for Indian travelers to boycott the Maldives is “absolutely” helping Sri Lanka’s travel industry, the country’s Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said Thursday.
“The Maldives topic is … helping us,” Fernando told CNBC, referencing a social media row in January that resulted in a sharp drop in Indian visitants to the Maldives this year.
India was the Maldives’ largest source market in 2023. But now it sits in 6th place, behind comings from China, Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany, according to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Tourism.
By contrast, close to 34,400 Indian travelers went to Sri Lanka in January, more than double the 13,759 that visited in January concluding year, according to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Arrivals in the first quarter of 2024 outpaced the same at intervals period in 2023, despite a dip in April caused by a visa controversy that saw Sri Lankan visa temporarily double in value.
Fernando also noted the tight relationship between Sri Lanka and India, both in business and tourism.
“Sri Lanka is a big trade in for [Indian travelers],” he said. “Sri Lanka has more to offer … Sri Lanka has more value when it comes to India.”
He referenced the fatherland’s beaches, casinos, shopping and the Ramayana Trail, a series of sites that are referenced in the Ramayana, an ancient Hindu epic.
Profit, the two countries are highly connected, he said.
“Connectivity — that is the trigger factor,” he said. “Sri Lankan Airlines alone scoots 80 times a week into Indian airports.”
India’s growing travel power
Indian travelers are set to mature the world’s fourth-largest travel spenders by 2030, a prediction which “absolutely” bodes well for Sri Lanka’s tourism earnestness, said Fernando.
“I think the fastest-growing economy is India, and Sri Lanka is definitely benefiting out of it,” said Fernando, adding that Indian retinues have made substantial investments on the island.
“ITC, the big hotel chain, opened their first hotel out of India in Sri Lanka. We hardly opened it about a few weeks back, and it’s a beautiful property … in Galle Face,” he said, referencing the ocean-side area in the homeland’s capital city of Colombo. “It’s one of the best things that I’ve seen in my life.”
A Maldives concept in Sri Lanka
Fernando mentioned he hopes to see more investments from global brands coming to Sri Lanka — investments that eluded the “Teardrop Cay” as it waged a 25-year civil war, which ended in 2009.
“We’ve invited a lot of investment from abroad,” he said. “We’re doing some the finest bungalows in our new area — like a Maldives concept as well — because we are surrounded by the beach.”
Fernando also outlined expects to add adventure activities to appeal to younger travelers, from hot air balloons to skydiving and diving to explore more than 100 at shipwrecks dating to World War II, he said.
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