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Sri Lanka eyeing to best it’s 2018 visitor numbers in 2024

With over 1.2 million visitors recorded in the first seven months, for the anticipated peak season Oct-Nov-Dec windfall, Sri Lanka Tourism is confident of achieving its target of 2.3 million tourists for 2024. Chalaka Gajabahu, Chairman, SLTPB (Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau), spoke to Shayan Mallick in an exclusive chat.
After a tumultuous few years that started with Easter Sunday bombings in 2019, followed by Covid-19 pandemic and lastly, the economic crisis of 2022, Sri Lanka is finally set to dominate the travel charts once again.
The island nation looks comfortable to achieve its target of 2.3 million international tourist arrivals, and USD 4.6 billion in tourism revenue during 2024. Sri Lanka had registered its record tourism year in 2018 when international tourist arrival surpassed 2.3 million visitors for the first time.
At over 99.9%, Sri Lanka had nearly achieved its 2023 arrival target of 1.5 million that came slightly undone because of geopolitical exigencies like the Russia-Ukraine war and more recently, the crisis in Israel.
“Sri Lanka missed the target by a mere 10,000 visitors because of the two ongoing wars, or we would have jumped the target of 1.5 million because we were getting lot of tourists from these countries as well”, believes Chalaka Gajabahu, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB). He spoke recently to TravelBiz Monitor, in an exclusive chat, on the sidelines of an award function in New Delhi.
“This year, our target is to reach 2.3 million tourists which are also our best numbers from 2018. We have already received over 1.2 million visitors in the first seven months. But don’t forget that, especially for the European market, the winter season is coming. October, November and December months are going to be very big. We are expecting about 700,000 to 750,000 visitors within these three months alone, that’s excluding the visitors for the August and September months. So I am pretty confident that we will achieve our target of 2.3 million figures,” he added.
Gajabahu also pointed that Sri Lanka’s tourism source markets are diverse and they are keen to maintain it that way. “India has always been our number one market. It was our number one market in 2023, and this year as well. We want it to grow to all categories of visitors. India will be our top market for a long time to come and we want it to be. However, Sri Lanka is a very neutral country. Whether it is India, China, Russia, the UK, France, Germany or the US, we are very welcoming to tourists from across the world.”
Commenting on the turnaround, the SLTPB head pointed, “We went through a very troublesome period before 2022 for five years! When you go through an economic crisis with long queues for essential commodities like food, medicines and petrol, no one wants to visit that country. But, in the past two years, with all that we have done, not only in India but globally, with road shows, promotions and influencer campaigns like ‘Seeing is Believing’, we are now in the top five travel indexes, wherever in the world, from the Fortune to the Forbes, and lot of other such platforms.”
In June 2022, Sri Lanka, said Gajabahu, became the first country to come to India to do the roadshow and also “India was the first country we went to because we knew that India was our next door big brother. It was the market we knew very well that we can handle, and I must admit that all the associations, especially TAAI (Travel Agents Association of India) and Jyoti Mayal came forward to help and committed to bring tourists to Sri Lanka.” TAAI organised its 67th Annual Convention in Sri Lanka last year themed around regional tourism promotion.
Furthermore, under its influencer campaigns like ‘Seeing is Believing’, Sri Lanka hosted no less than 200 global journalists and social media influencers in the last one and half years, earning the island nation receive a lot of positive coverage across the globe that gave a huge fillip to its destination image. Recently, Times of India rated Sri Lanka as the second ‘Most Popular Travel Destination in Asia.’ It was also voted as one of the safest countries for the single women travellers.
“There are many good things happening in Sri Lanka, and we hope to continue the momentum,” said Gajabahu.

Travel & tourism sector deal activity down by 32.7% YoY during Jan-Nov: GlobalData

A total of 666 deals (mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity and venture financing) were announced in the travel and tourism sector globally during January-November 2023, which is a year-on-year (YoY) decline of 32.7% compared to the announcement of 989 deals during the same period in the previous year, finds GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, said, “The global travel and tourism sector persistently exhibited a declining trend in deal activity throughout the year. Geo-political tensions, ongoing wars and associated macroeconomic challenges largely affected the deal-making sentiments in the sector.”

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that the deal activity within the travel and tourism sector for all the regions and most of the countries suffered setbacks during January-November 2023.

North America witnessed 43.2% decline in deals volume during January-November 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year. Similarly, the number of deals announcement in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South and Central American regions too fell by 36.7%, 15.2%, 20.5%, and 42.3%, respectively, YoY during January-November 2023.

Meanwhile, key global markets such as the US, the UK, China, Japan, France, South Korea, Australia, Spain and the Netherlands witnessed YoY decline in deals volume by 44.1%, 29.5%, 4.5%, 46.9%, 20.7%, 26.7%, 30%, 56.8% and 35%, respectively.

Bose added, “All the deal types under the coverage also recorded YoY decline in volume during January-November 2023.”

For instance, the number of M&A deals declined by 34.6% while the volume of private equity deals and venture financing deals registered YoY decline of 31% and 26.3%, respectively

Travel & tourism sector deal activity down globally by 33% YoY in Q1-Q3: GlobalData

A total of 558 deals were announced in the travel and tourism sector globally during the first three quarters of 2023, which was a decline of 33% compared to the announcement of 833 deals during the same period in 2022, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database also revealed all the deal types under coverage, and most of the key markets recorded a considerable year-on-year decline in the announcement of deals during Q1-Q3 2023 compared to Q1-Q3 2022.

For instance, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals volume for the travel and tourism sector declined by 34.6% during Q1-Q3 2023 compared to Q1-Q3 2022, while the total number of private equity deals and venture financing deals were down by 29.2% and 28.4%, respectively.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, said, “Geo-political tensions, Russia-Ukraine war, inflation, recession fears, and interest rate hikes seem to have been taking a toll on deal-making sentiments in the travel and tourism sector. Resultantly, we have been seeing subdued activity being experienced across several key markets across regions.”

North America witnessed a decline in deals volume by 43.9% during Q1-Q3 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year, while Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America regions experienced a decline of 39.7%, 12.7%, 16.7%, and 25%, respectively.

Similarly, key markets such as the US, the UK, South Korea, France, Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, and Canada recorded year-on-year decline in deals volume by 44.4%, 40%, 12.5%, 12.5%, 25.9%, 53.5%, 23.5%, and 35.3% during Q1-Q3 2023, respectively, compared to Q1-Q3 2022.

Meanwhile, China emerged as a notable exception and experienced growth in deals volume by 21.9% during Q1-Q3 2023 compared to Q1-Q3 2022, whereas deals volume for India remained at the same level.

Deal activity in T&T industry declines 36.2% YoY during Jan-Aug 2023: GlobalData

The global travel and tourism industry experienced a notable decline in deal activity during January-August 2023, marking a substantial year-on-year (YoY) decrease of 36.2% compared to the same period in 2022.

This decline spanned various deal types, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, and venture financing, with economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions playing a significant role in shaping this trend, finds GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that a total of 482 deals were announced in the global travel and tourism industry compared to 756 deals announced during January-August 2022. The volume of M&A deals declined by 37.8% while the number of private equity and venture financing deals declined by 38.1% and 30.8% YoY, respectively.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, said, “Economic uncertainties including interest rates hikes, rising inflation, looming recession fears coupled with geopolitical tensions seem to have made investors cautious, which led to the significant decline in T&T deal activity across many countries.”

In fact, several key markets witnessed double-digit decline in deals volume during January-August 2022 compared to the same period in 2022. For instance, the US, the UK, Australia, France, Japan, the Netherlands, and Canada witnessed deals volume decline by 47.2%, 45.3%,20.8%, 13.6%, 62.5%, 31.3% and 33.3% YoY, respectively, during January-August 2023.

India and China too registered 6.3% and 3.3% decline in deals volume during January-August 2022 compared to the same period in 2022.

Bose concluded, “Despite the challenges, its ability to adapt and recover has been a hallmark of the travel and tourism industry, and this resilience is likely to drive a resurgence in deal activity when the global landscape stabilizes.”