As Sri Lanka Tourism attempts to include Middle Eastern markets for its tourism bets, the country is now preparing to provide different types of accommodation to this particular market, The Daily Morning Business learns.
Speaking to The Daily Morning Business, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Priantha Fernando said: “The Middle Eastern market differs slightly from the other markets. The accommodation types they expect are different.”
He pointed out that they look for seclusion, privacy, and space and Sri Lanka respects their norms.
He added that they always reach for the high end hotels and villas of the country. Even if there is a low crowd of only two or five people, they tend to book a complete villa with four or five rooms where they have the seclusion, privacy, the private pool, and everything.
Therefore, if the country comprehends the firm needs of the Middle East market. There are many products in Snka that could cater for them. They tend to go in for the high-end products and they spend much more than a normal tourist, Fernando said.
There are around 9,000 rooms in the country that can accommodate high end tourists, but as the high end market starts to pick up, new construction, renovation and refurbishment programmes will take place by upgrading quality and standards to meet the demand.
According to SLTDA, the country is currently carrying out promotional programmes in the Middle Eastern market that will create greater awareness of what Sri Lanka can offer them.
According to Arab News, tourism has traditionally been one of the key sources of Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves and in 2018 earned $ 4.4 billion, contributing 5.6 percent to the gross domestic product. But this dropped to just 0.8 percent in 2020, as the country received a major blow when the outbreak of Covid-19 halted global travel.
In an effort to recover from the pandemic, Sri Lanka designated 2022 as ‘Visit Sri Lanka Year’ and gave the tourism sector a higher priority. However, as the country descended further into its worst economic crisis in history, it started to realign its strategies and chose the Middle East as one of its top potential markets, placing particular emphasis on the Gulf Cooperation Council nations, particularly Saudi Arabia.