Sri Lanka is running out of time to attract tourists for the summer season of 2025, which falls between June and August, according to Wayfarers Limited Managing Director and Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) Outgoing President Nishad Wijetunge.
“We have been asking the government to kick-start the campaign since December, January, and February, at every engagement,” Wijetunge told The Daily Morning Business yesterday (18).
“Now we have confirmation that it will begin at the end of March. The government has been receptive and engaged with us, but if the campaign does not kick off as soon as possible, Sri Lanka will miss its tourist arrivals target,” he said.
Sri Lanka fell short of its 2024 tourism target by 250,000 arrivals, recording 2.05 million visitors against a goal of 2.3 million.
Despite being recognised by Conde Nast Traveller and BBC as one of the top travel destinations for 2025, Wijetunge noted that the country has not capitalised on this organic international exposure through direct marketing efforts.
He emphasised the need for a global social media campaign to promote Sri Lanka directly to potential travellers.
Wijetunge also raised concerns about the ongoing vehicle shortage in the tourism sector. While the government lifted the vehicle import ban, tour operators are still unable to import the vehicles approved for tourism use in 2024 due to high costs.
“Even though the ban has been lifted, we have not been able to bring in the vehicles that were approved for importation last year. The prices remain too high for the industry to afford. If you calculate the return on investment for these purchases, it is simply not viable for us,” he explained.
SLAITO had previously requested approval to import at least 1,000 vans and buses to expand the tourism vehicle fleet in anticipation of rising visitor numbers.
However, only 300 vehicles were approved, with the majority allocated to hotels rather than tour operators, limiting the sector’s ability to accommodate the expected influx of tourists.
