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Buoyed by a steady increase in tourist arrivals, Sri Lanka presented the country’s tourism roadmap on Sri Lanka National Day at Expo 2020 Dubai

Inbound tourism in Sri Lanka is booming due to the successful implementation of the vaccination programme. As a result, the country is witnessing a decline in Covid-19 infections, with over 85 per cent of the eligible population from Sri Lanka’s 21.9 million being vaccinated. In addition, the administering of booster Pfizer vaccines is rapidly progressing, with priority being given to personnel from the travel industry.

This was announced at Expo 2020 Dubai during Sri Lanka National Day last month. During the event, Kimarli Fernando, Chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism and Commissioner General for Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “Sri Lanka has recovered post-pandemic with confidence, and the country is now steadily moving forward, prioritising its tourism sector in the interests of the country and travel-hungry tourists. We are honoured to be awarded the ‘Safe Travel Stamp’ by the World Travel and Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and World Travel & Tourism Council in 2021.”

The destination is fully operational and delighting vaccinated as well as non-vaccinated tourists, with a set of health and safety protocols to follow:

• Vaccinated travellers do not need on-arrival PCR tests and can stay at any type of accommodation.

• Not-vaccinated travellers need a Covid-19 test at the arrival and must stay in a ‘Flexible bio-bubble’ with all facilities of the hotels made available and the ability to visit approved tourist sites.

• All visitors must pay local Covid-19 insurance of $12 with one month cover of $50,000

“As a pearl of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka has unique cultural and geological features. Our country has shining blue water beaches, rich cultural heritage, National Parks and avenues for Adventurous outings. A holiday in Sri Lanka is no longer an on-screen experience due to a pandemic. We are open and greeting visitors with a warm Ayubowan!” Fernando added.

Sri Lanka is undoubtedly one of the best holiday destinations waiting to be discovered and celebrated.

Global Choice for Travel

Sri Lanka continues to emerge as one of the world’s best tourist destinations with accolades from various travel guides, travel magazines and travel web sites including Lonely Planet and Bloomberg.

The island nation was selected by travel influencers as top destination in Asia for 2019, and Sri Lanka was given the emerging destination award in 2019. Sri Lanka also gained the travel lemming readers award 2019 among world’s top destinations by travelling website. Subsequently, the BBC good food team named Sri Lankan cuisine as the number one trending cuisine in 2019 on their list. Travel+Lesuire magazine and website ranked Sri Lanka as one of the best Islands in the world 2019. Sri Lanka has also claimed the top spot in the world’s leading travel guide, the Lonely Planet, as the best travel destination in 2019 as well as the top destination for winter travel by USA Today in 2019.

In the subsequent year, CNN Travel ranked Sri Lanka as one of the 20 best places to visitThe destination was again featured as one of the top destinations to travel in February 2020 by Conde Nast Traveler – Middle East. In 2021, Sigiriya became one of Bloomberg’s new 7 wonders of the world. Sri Lanka was ranked one of the top 25 islands voted by readers of Travel+Lesuire for 2021 with many UNESCO heritage sites, beaches, wildlife parks and hill country resorts bottled up in a small space. In 2021, Sri Lanka won another accolade as one of the best countries to travel to by Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Award, and in parallel to that, globally ranked as a wellness tourism destination.

Wellness Destination

Sri Lanka has always been sought after for its pristine beaches, lush rainforests, ayurvedic retreats and natural wonders — its connect with mother nature. The country has natural and traditional endowments that are used to foster a sustainable wellness tourism value chain that is deeply rooted in local communities and traditions.

The wellness tourism sector in Sri Lanka is heading towards rapid growth but has to be nurtured carefully in collaboration with the industry stake holders from both government and private sector. Potential new markets for traditional medicine include GCC and Russia, Eastern Europe, the Far East and Australia. The government has recognised wellness tourism as a key sector for investors and wellness tourism can be considered as a niche market for the country because of its potential to attract foreign investment and revenue generation.

While wellness tourism was once single dimensional and was restricted to pampering spa vacations, nowadays wellness travel includes many combinations of healthy experiences including eating, cooking, exercise and meditation.

Among the recommendations made by the international trade centre for the development of medical and wellness tourism, Sri Lanka has positioned itself as one of the authentic ayurveda wellness destinations in the world for development, production, and export of ayurveda linked cosmetic and supplementary products to the global market. With the wellness tourism rapidly growing to be a promising sector, Sri Lanka has a huge potential of becoming a wellness tourism hub.

— rhonita@khaleejtimes.com