An upbeat Chairman of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) Sanath Ukwatte yesterday projected the arrivals target of 2.8 Million for 2019.
Buoyed by the achievement of the unprecedented tourist arrivals target of 2.5 million for 2018, which he said, would be a reality, he told Daily News Business yesterday.
He said that the industry was projecting a 15% increase for 2019. He said that it was fortunate that the industry was not inhibited by the recent political impasse barring a few MICE sector postponements at the last moment.
He stressed that 2019 would be the best year for Sri Lanka’s tourism with the Global Promotion Campaign which will start with the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) Confab in Berlin in March 2019 for which there will be a budget of US$ 15 million. Also buttressing this would be the leverage that Sri Lanka would be getting from Lonely Planet declaring that Sri Lanka was the best destination in the world, Ukwatte remarked.
He also said that foreign exchange brought in by tourists, would also help to counter the devaluation of the rupee to some extent.