Sri Lanka to develop marine tourism with ADB assistance

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTA) has appointed a committee to explore the potential of marine tourism as part of a marine tourism master plan for 2024 to developed with Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance.

SLTDA Chairman Priyantha Fernando told EconomyNext that a marine tourism consultant will also be in Colombo on June 02 whose expertise is being sought.

“The level of investment needed is difficult to estimate at the moment,” Fernando said. “The last budget had allocated 50 million rupees which made it hard to make improvements. However, this year I believe we will spend 200 to 250 million on the development process.”

Sri Lanka’s coasts have been popular tourist attractions with coral and whale watching being activities that have generated significant interest among visitors.

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, which suffered immensely over the last few years due to the Easter attacks, the pandemic and a currency crisis, has seen some improvement in 2023 with the country on track to earning projected tourism revenues for the year, according to SLTDA.

A majority of tourists arriving in Sri Lanka so far in 2023 have been from Russia at 100,507 arrivals from January to May.  One contributor to the increase in tourist revenue is expected to be the growth of marine tourism, SLTDA said. 

Source: https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-develop-marine-tourism-with-adb-assistance-121594/