A report by Sri Lankan bank Capital Alliance has said that India and China would likely be the source of the majority of tourist arrivals in the coming years.
Arrivals from Western Europe are expected to taper off with a decreasing rate of growth. The report pointed out that the financial crisis does not seem to have had an impact on tourists travelling abroad from Europe.
India, already the largest tourist market for the island, is projected to increase their number of visitors 6 times to 750,000 compared to the 187,000 expected to have visited Sri Lanka by the end of this year.
Chinese tourists are mentioned as a ‘wild-card’, with vast potential for Sri Lanka to attract more visitors from the increasingly wealthy middle class.
Government plans for increased investment in casinos and shopping centres are said to give Sri Lanka an advantage against neighbouring countries, the report adds.
See report by Sri Lanka’s Financial Times here.
