Whenever one mentions Sri Lanka, a picture of coconut palm-lined beaches, exotic wildlife, mountainous terrain and agricultural landscape flash in the mind. Indeed, the island nation is blessed with numerous tourist attractions and scenic beauty. Which is why, tourists from across the globe have been flocking to the Emerald Isle, located off the southern tip of India on the Indian Ocean.

Sadly, these days, Sri Lanka is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Faced with an acute economic crisis, its forex reserve has depleted to the lowest level. The country’s fuel stations are drying up, there are long power cuts, grocery shops are empty of even essential items, forcing people to take to the streets in protest. Hotels and restaurants across the country, once flooded with people, are either shut or reeling under long power cuts. Tourism, once a lifeline for the island nation, is under a grave threat.

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Sri Lanka’s tourism in crisis

Several political and economic decisions taken by Sri Lanka’s current and previous governments and rampant corruption are some of the reasons, which have led the country to the present extreme condition. From a touristic point of view, there are two incidents that triggered this crisis situation ~ Easter Sunday bombings in April 2019 and coronavirus pandemic that followed in 2020. In the suicide bombing incident at least 250 people were killed. Following this, the country witnessed as much as 70% decline in its tourist footfall. Then the pandemic happened, which completely stopped the arrival of tourists to the island nation. The situation only improved in November 2021, when the nation removed all quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated tourists. By then, the damage was done. As tourism came to a halt due to Covid, the country's forex reserves dropped from over $7.5 billion in 2019 to around $2.8 billion in July 2021. Its currency has depreciated by around 8% so far this year.  

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 Tourism status of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is highly dependent on the tourism industry as it contributes around 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As per Sri Lanka’s tourism department, the Russian Federation, India, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Germany were the country’s top five international tourist generating markets for the month of January 2022. Russia was the largest source of tourist visits to Sri Lanka with 16% of the total traffic received in January. India and Ukraine accounted for 14% and 10% of the total traffic respectively. Before pandemic (2019), the contribution of travel and tourism was 12.6% to the total GDP. This is an increase from 6% in 2000 and was growing at a speed of 4.28%. It is the fifth biggest source of foreign revenue in Sri Lanka.

The current situation for tourists

Right now, the beautiful island country is facing one of the worst crisis in history. Its hotels are facing power outages, restaurants are short of food supply, and vehicles have no fuel to ply. Because of the power cuts, hotels and restaurants are surviving through generators which need diesel but are currently in short supply in the country. People were seen protesting outside the building of the tourism department in Colombo. If this situation continues, there will be a massive job crisis in the hospitality and tourism industry. Countries like Canada and the UK have issued advisories to their citizens not to visit Sri Lanka. Tourists present in the country are leaving due to the ongoing protests and advance bookings are being cancelled. Overall, the tourism industry in Sri Lanka is on the verge of collapsing.