Potential of Sri Lanka as a Tourist Destination

This research explores the potential of Sri Lanka to become one of the most popular tourist destinations. It evaluates the tourism attractions, market analysis, challenges, and recommendations for sustainable growth. The research finds that Sri Lanka possesses the potential to become a popular tourist destination, but faces challenges such as lack of infrastructure and high hotel prices.

Running head: HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
Hospitality Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Abstract
After the independence of the nation, the promotion of the tourism industry initiated and the
government of Sri Lanka decided to develop the tourism sector as a separate sector of the
economy of the country. The purpose of the research will be to evaluate the potential of Sri
Lanka to be one of the most popular tourist destinations across the world. The semi structured
interview based primary data collection method has been used as data collection method of this
research. The target participants of this research are the managers of tourism and hospitality
industry of the Sri Lanka. Among the potential participants 5 respondents have been chosen
through convenient sampling. This research has found that the tourism industry of Sri Lanka
possess the potential to become one of the most popular tourist destinations. The mention worthy
hindrances includes lack of effective transport infrastructure and internet, lack of efficient human
resources and high price ranges of hotels and resorts.

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Table of Content
Chapter 1: Research Background....................................................................................................3
Chapter 2: Review of Key Literature...............................................................................................5
2.1 Potential tourism attractions in Sri Lanka’s Tourism industry..............................................5
2.2 Market analysis of the Sri Lankan Tourism and Hospitality industry...................................6
2.3 Challenges that are hindering the flourish of the tourism industry.......................................8
2.4 Opportunities to develop the potential of becoming an eminent tourist destination.............9
Chapter 3: Methodology................................................................................................................10
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................10
3.2 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................10
3.3 Research Approach..............................................................................................................11
3.4 Research Design..................................................................................................................11
3.5 Population Sampling............................................................................................................12
3.6 Data Collection Process.......................................................................................................12
3.7 Data Analysis Process..........................................................................................................13
3.8 Ethical Consideration...........................................................................................................13
3.9 Summary..............................................................................................................................13
Chapter 4: Analysis and Findings..................................................................................................14
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................14
4.2 Narrative analysis................................................................................................................14

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4.3 Discussion............................................................................................................................18
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations............................................................................19
References:....................................................................................................................................22

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Chapter 1: Research Background
The tourism industry of Sri Lanka is emerging in a rapid manner. The nation has been
one of the most popular places of attraction for the foreign travellers from time immemorial. In
410 AD, the Chinese travel Fa Hien had visited Sri Lanka and during the 12th Century Marco
Polo has labelled the nation as the best island across the world on the basis of its size. The
initiatives of the Sri Lankan government to enhance the market of its tourism industry dated back
to 1937 when the Cylon tourist bureau was established. However the mentioned Bureau closed
down during the war II. However, after the independence of the nation, the promotion of the
tourism industry initiated and the government of Sri Lanka decided to develop the tourism sector
as a separate sector of the economy of the country. Since then a massive enhancement of the
tourism industry has been noticed. According to researchers, The location of the island is highly
advantageous that is in between the West Asia an South East Asia and thus is easily
communicable. In spite of being a beach destination, the nation possess the potential to provide
the tourists with culture, nature, agro, community, religious and spiritual attractions. Along with
the advancement in technology, the hospitality industry of the nation is developing. With
technological advancement several beautiful resorts, hotels as well as spas have opened in the
nation. Along with this, the affordability of hotels as well as other hospitability factors is found
to be much affordable in the nation. Along with this he fluctuating price of oil is imposing fuel
charges to cover high costs which are unfortunately getting passed to the consumers. This in turn
is lowering the urge of the consumers to travel during the peak season for both leisure and
business purposes. Along with this, the decreasing strengths of the Sterling Pound against the
Euro for the United Kingdom are resulting in disappearing of the notion of cheap tour in Europe.

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Thus global tourists are getting more inclined towards visiting tourist places located in
developing as well as underdeveloped countries.
In spite of the above mentioned advantages, the nation is not evidencing tourist presence as high
as its competitors in the eastern parts of the world. A good number of factors are that are
adversely influencing the growth of the Sri Lankan Tourism industry. The purpose of this
research is to explore the potential of Sri Lanka as an eminent tourist destination. The research
question of this research includes “Does Sri Lanka possess the potential to become an effective
tourist destination?”
The chief aim of the research will be to evaluate the potential of Sri Lanka to be one of the most
popular tourist destinations across the world
The objectives of the research are as follows:
1. To explore the potential tourism attractions in Sri Lanka
2. To evaluate the current supply chain availability in the Sri Lankan hospitality industry
and conduct current market analysis of the Sri Lankan Tourism industry
3. To identify the challenges that are hindering the flourish of the tourism industry in Sri
Lanka
4. To recommend necessary actions and strategies to pursue the sustainable growth of
tourism industry in Sri Lanka

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Chapter 2: Review of Key Literature
2.1 Potential tourism attractions in Sri Lanka’s Tourism industry
The Sri Lankan Tourism development Authority has classified the mention nation into
several regions that are suitable for the tourism developed. These regions include the Colombo
and Greater Colombo Resort Region, the south Coast Resort Region, the East Coast Resort
region, West Coast Resort region , High country Resort region and the Ancient Cities resort
region. The classification of the mentioned region has been done in order to provide attention for
development to each of the sector separately and thus ensure parallel development of each of
them. According to Claster et al. (2013), one of the major advantageous factor that is responsible
for the enhanced number of tourists in Sri Lanka includes inclination of the global tourists to
visit tourists destination located in developing as well as underdeveloped nations. According to
Hyndman and Amarasingam (2014), one of the major strengths of the Sri Lankan Tourism
industry includes its geographical location. The strategic location of the nation in the Indian
Ocean on the major air and sea routes between Europe and the Far East is an advantage to the
country’s positioning as a global logistics hub.
Considering the fact that the country has experience decrement in tourist visit during the
civil war, one of the major opportunities associated with the tourism industry odd Sri Lanka
includes both the Northern ad astern providences of the nation are now free from any kind of
civil war and is thus easily accessible. Thus a good number of the hotels and restaurants are
opting for opening their business in Sri Lanka (Kirillova, Gilmetdinova and Lehto 2014). Due to
its highly communicable location, the nation has always been tourist destination for centuries.

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Another major strength of the mentioned tourist destination includes its rich natural tourism that
include its unique combination of golden beaches, affluent cultural heritage, diverse landscapes
as well as a significant number of wildlife destinations.
Athukorala and Jayasuriya (2013) have pointed out that the political stability of the
nation post civil war is stable enough to attract global tourists. In spite of the fact that the
mentioned nation is not a perfect democracy as a result of this institutional erosion and law and
order situation, after the civil war, no major political conflict of issues have taken place in Sri
Lanka. The nation possesses a strong presidential system with concentrated political power of the
president. According to Byrne and Klem (2015), a politically stable nation possesses the
potential to attract tourist due to higher security and safety rate. More is the political stability if a
nation less is the chance of getting victimized due to sudden terrorist attacks or political
conflicts. Fernando, Bandara and Smith (2013) have pointed out the facility of the opening of
the untapped east as well as east coast beaches a hitherto undiscovered part of Sri Lanka that is
teaming with untouched beaches, idyllic villages along with cultural treasures galore would be a
great attraction for travellers. Along with the above mentioned strengths , the commitment of the
government to promote the tourism industry by investing financial in the same can be considered
as another major factor that possess the potential to enhance the popularity of the nation amongst
both local as well as international tourists.
2.2 Market analysis of the Sri Lankan Tourism and Hospitality industry
With the advancement in technology, the Sri Lankan Tourism and hospitality industry is
developing. The political stability and active cooperation from the side of the government has led
a good number of international hotel chains to establish their business in Sri Lanka Over the
years, a good number of well furnished resorts, hotels as well as spas have opened in the

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mentioned nation. Incorporation of the diverse culture of the country along with various tourists
establishment offer the visitors with an unique yet memorable experience. According to Greg
Dogan, President and CEO of the Shangri La International Hotel Management limited, the
management of the hotel chain has decided to build a number of hotels in Sri Lanka including a
seven-star luxury hotel in Colombo. According to Jayawardena (2013) the government of the
nation has already invested a huge amount of money in order to upgrade the existing hotels. A
goo number of renowned hotel chains have decided to invest in vivid constructional projects For
instance, the well-known Hong-Kong-based Shangri-La Asia Ltd has already begun their work
on a 500-room seven-star luxury hotel in Colombo within the cost range of 500 million dollars
and the National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation has announced of their
investment in another hotel project that is next to the Shangri-La project at the same cost.
Kamble and Bouchon (2014) have pointed out that while the availability of hotels and
resorts have got enhanced in the nation, the high price range is making default for tourists who
belongs to middle class population of the society visit the nation. The hotel accommodation of
the nation is highly overpriced compared to its market competitors. This in turn has resulted in a
major competitive disadvantage for the nation. While the price range is slightly lower for the
three star hotels compared to the 5 star hotels of Sri Lanka, the accommodation facilities of the
three Star ones does not possess the potential to attract more and more consumers to the
mentioned nation
Along with lack of infrastructure, another major issue faced by the tourist visiting the
mentioned nation is lack of 24*7 internet service across the nation. In this era of modernization,
people need to get connected with the world even during their leisure period (Lokuhetty,
Jayawardena and Mudadeniya 2013). When it comes to tourists who visit Sri Lanka for the

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purpose of visiting the nation, it becomes highly difficult for them to operate their business from
the nation due to lack of internet facilities.
2.3 Challenges that are hindering the flourish of the tourism industry
In spite of the implementation of massive infrastructure development projects, Sri Lanka
still possess a long way to go for catching up with it competitors both in the Asian Tourism
market as well as across the world. Some of its major competitors that possess highly superior
infrastructure compared to the nation include Singapore, Thailand and Japan. Ione of the major
area where the organization is still lagging behind includes its transportation system both though
road as well as railways. According to Wickramasinghe (2014), transportation from one tourist
destination from another is a highly time consuming factors even in this era of technological
advancement and due to the poor infrastructure of the nation. In spite of the fact that the nation id
an island , it is highly crucial for the government to focus on ensuring efficient transport facilities
across the nation to promote and accommodate significant overseas tourism arrivals by sea.
Considering the fact that the highest number of the travellers in Sri Lanka is from India, in recent
days a ferry service has been introduced by Sri Lanka between the nation and India. However,
according to Sandaruwani and Gnanapala (2016), if compared to the sea travelling facilities
available to the global tourists when it comes to Singapore or Thailand that includes expensive
cruises along with other entertainment facilities, the nation is certainly lagging behind to a good
extent. The port infrastructure in both the North as well as East ha got severely damaged due to
the war and hence rapid rebuilding is highly crucial in order to attract global tourists in the
mentioned region.
Karunasena and Amaratunga (2016) have pointed out another major weakness of the Sri
Lankan Tourism industry that is hindering their way of becoming one of the most popular tourist

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destinations across the world across the world includes lack of efficient human resources in the
field of tourism. In spite of the fact tht the tourism industry o the nation is recovering in a
significant way, the mentioned sector is facing shortage of trained employees due to decades of
neglect as a result of civil disturbance. According the report published by the tourism industry of
Sri Lanka in 219, the mentioned industry requires five times the current workforce for catering to
the 2.5 million tourists. Gamage, Lock and Fernando (2014) have pointed out that one of the
chief reasons behind lack of human resource despite the fact that the population of the nation is
not aged is lack of training and educational facilities across the nation about tourism and
hospitability.
2.4 Opportunities to develop the potential of becoming an eminent tourist
destination
A good number of opportunities are present in spite of the barriers and challenges in the
Sri Lankan Tourism industry. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO), global tourism is experiencing growth and diversification and thus has become one
of the fastest as well as largest growing economic sectors across the world. Thus, improvement
of domestic environment will create a huge range of opportunities for the tourist to visit and
invest in Sri Lanka (Semasinghe 2016). The second opportunity enjoyed by the mentioned
industry includes promotion of ecotourism, wildlife as well as health tourism. The nation
possesses the potential to develop the mentioned facilities for the tourists since they possess
natural resources that can attract the tourists to a great extent.

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Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1 Introduction
The purpose of this section is to present the process and philosophical approach utilized
for conducting this study with the help of structural framework. The framework of this
presentation of methods is the research onion, which is a conceptual framework of evaluating
methodological scopes and choosing appropriate methods for a research. The presentation of this
methodology section based on the outer layer to inner layer progression in research onion, where
the outer layers denote the abstract part and inner layers denote the tangible part of the
methodology (Kumar 2019). Hence, based on this inward progression the following
methodological discussion includes the research philosophy, approach, design, population,
sampling, data collection and data analysis process. The ethical consideration has been also
presented in this methodology part.
3.2 Research Philosophy
This research is based on exploration of current situation of hospitality industry of Sri
Lanka to find scope of evolving tourism industry. Hence, this research has chosen a research
philosophy that can address issues in structural format while collecting data from a moderate
sample size (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). This research does not need a positivist
approach where it needs to collect data from a large sample of resources. At the same time the
research is not too much interpretivist to evaluate small data with multiple perceptions.
Therefore, this research needs a research philosophy that is an intermediate philosophy between

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positivism and interpretivism. Considering all these factors, the pragmatism research philosophy
has been chosen for this research method.
3.3 Research Approach
The research approaches can be segregated between three categories namely the
inductive, deductive and abdicative depending on the presentation of the study. This research
does not have any pre-determined assumption or hypothesis that would need deceptive approach
(Flick 2015). At the same time, this research has not abducted any specific research method from
other research. On the other hand, this research is based on exploring the current situation of the
hospitality industry with while inducing the scope of further growth of tourism. Hence, for this
study the inductive research approach has been chosen.
3.4 Research Design
The typology of research design can be segregated into two factors namely objective
based types and selection of tools. Based on the objective a research could be exploratory,
explanatory and descriptive. This study is solely based on exploration on underlying
opportunities for business ventures in tourism industry. Hence, considering objectives this
research is an exploratory research. On the other hand, the research design can also based
segregated depending on the tool selection namely experimental research, cross sectional
research, systematic research, reflection, case study and others (Tuohy et al. 2013). This research
focuses on a cross sectional data collections where the population can participate single time and
their opinions have to be considered. Hence, the research design of this study is based on cross
sectional research design involving small sample size.

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3.5 Population Sampling
The target population of this research is the mangers and responsible personnel in
hospitality and tourism industry of Sri Lanka. The purpose of choosing this population for data
collection is that this population can portray the real picture of tourism and hospitality market
from a managerial perspective where profitability and growth are the two major considerations.
The sample size of the managers in this research is 5. This sample size has been chosen through
convenient sampling method, where the participants participate in the data collection process as
per their willingness. In this process all willing participants have been included in this study.
3.6 Data Collection Process
Two types of data collection process are primary and secondary data collection where
primary implies the field based collection and secondary implies collection of data from other
researches. As per the research design of this study primary data collection process has been used
based on the semi structured interview based data collection (Padilla-Díaz 2015). Semi structure
interview allows the interviewer to collect the data in a structured format. It is an intermediate
approach between survey and open-ended interview. An interview application with ethical
concerns has been distributed within many personnel of tourism industry in Sri-Lanka. However,
only 5 potential participants replied and expressed their interest in this study. The interview has
been taken in many places as per the preference of the interviewees, which includes the office,
residential places, children parks and others. The interview questions are based on the research
objective to explore the perspective of the mangers regarding the market of hospitality, potential
growth of tourism and recommended way of improvement.

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3.7 Data Analysis Process
The collected data are qualitative which mean the non-numeric data. Therefore, between
qualitative and quantitative data analysis process for this research qualitative data analysis
process has been chosen to analyse the qualitative data collected from the interview. The
qualitative data analysis process can be conducted through many form namely narrative data
analysis, thematic data analysis and systematic study. The analysis process has followed the
narrative data analysis process each responses of individual have to be analysed critically while
comparing with other responses of the respondents (Read 2016).
3.8 Ethical Consideration
Ethical consideration of a research holds the credibility, authenticity and reliability of a
research. Ethical issues become more viable for a primary study (Gajjar 2013). In this interview
based research two major ethical considerations are the consent of the participants and the
privacy of the data. For this, the interview sessions were conducted after collecting the consents
from the potential respondents. An interview form has been delivered to every respondent that
conveyed the purpose, procedure and the significance of participation. It has been also ensured
that the collected data would be used only in this research were no personal details of the
participants would be exposed.
3.9 Summary
The semi structured interview based primary data collection method has been used as
data collection method of this research. The target participants of this research are the managers
of tourism and hospitality industry of the Sri Lanka. Among the potential participants 5
respondents have been chosen through convenient sampling. The qualitative data analysis
method has been used in this research. As qualitative data analysis narrative data analysis has

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been used. The consent of the participants was collected before the interview ensuring the
privacy and security of collected data.
Chapter 4: Analysis and Findings
4.1 Introduction
In this section the narrative analysis has been done on the collected data from semi
structured interview. The responses of the individual have been presented through segregating
according to the interview questions. The 5 responses under each question are analysed
qualitatively in narrative structure. Due to privacy and confidential issue the names of the
managers are unexposed and represented in alpha-numeric presentation namely Manager 1,
Manager 2, Manager 3, Manager 4 and Manager 5. After analysis the discussion has been also
presented considering the information found in literature review section.
4.2 Narrative analysis
Question 1: What is the current market situation of tourism industry considering both
suppliers and potential consumers?
Manager 1: Srilankan tourism industry is growing very slowly. Accordingly the market of
hospitality industry is also facing very slow paced improvement in last 10 years as per the
experience of the participant. There are some international hotels chains in attraction sites of this
country. However, due to lack of speed the involvement of new companies in tourism and
hospitality industry is not significant.
Manager 2: Tourism industry needs association of other business industries such as
transportation, accommodation, food, retail and others. According to this respondent the socio-

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cultural pattern of coastal areas of Sri Lanka is very supportive to the tourism growth.
Competition and market rivalry are moderate level in tourism and hospitality industry of Sri
Lanka.
Manager 3: Tourism of Sri Lankan coastal areas is growing comparatively better than the
internal areas. Lack of international level suppliers is limiting the standard of the hospitality
industry in the views of international tourists. In last 2 years the respondent has experienced
significant growth in tourism industry considering the food supply, accommodation transpiration
and others.
Manager 4: Both domestic and international tourists can be found in Sri Lankan attraction sites.
However, the number of domestic tourists is increasing rather than the international tourists
making industry growth slower. Transportation is limiting the supply chain logistics of Sri Lanka
as well. The labour market of tourism industry of Sri Lanka is also lacking the integrity.
Manager 5: Lack of new ventures in tourism industry can be clearly noticeable. However, from
last two years several international level hotel chains are investing in the tourism industry. Weak
transportation and logistics system are restricting the tourism industry to grow.
Question 2: What are the challenges and opportunities in hospitality and tourism industry
in Sri Lanka?
Manager 1: Oil prices and occasional recession reducing the investing power of the company
that is limiting the potentiality of expanding the business in tourism industry. Funding is the
major limitation in this industry where companies are not encouraging collaborative business
culture as well.

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Manager 2: Conventional and rigid industrial policy is the major cause of poor growth of
tourism. No effective initiation has been taken from government to improve the public services
around the tourist sites that could improve the administrative quality of those regions of central
Sri Lanka. Transportation issues are also major limitations of these potential tourism sites.
Manager 3: Lack of international level suppliers is limiting the standard of the hospitality
industry in the views of international tourists. Transportation is limiting the supply chain
logistics of Sri Lanka as well. The labour market of tourism industry of Sri Lanka is also lacking
the integrity.
Manager 4: Cost of flight is a major issue in Sri Lankan tourism industry. At the same time
increasing cost of oil is also increasing the ground and water transportation as well. The
increasing transportation cost is not only limiting the inbound international tourist, but also
limiting the flexibility of domestic tourism. Economic crisis, lack of funding and poor
collaboration is the three major boundaries of tourism industry in Sri Lanka.
Manager 5: According to this respondent, lack of corporate strategy is a major cause of poor
growth of tourism industry. Most of international hotel chain outsourcing the human resource
rather than employing the local people. It is causing major cultural conflict within the tourism
sites. As a result the local communities especially in central Sri Lanka are restricting the growth
of tourism through passive non-cooperation movements.
Question 3: What is the most comprehensive way to evolve the tourism and hospitality
industry considering both obligations of authorities and market competitors?
Manager 1: To increase the growth of the Srilankan tourism industry the market of hospitality
industry needs more international level ventures that can also improve the national economy as

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well. With more purchasing power and overall economical growth could be also be enhanced
that can improve the scope of domestic tourism as well. Government and public organisations
should also work collaboratively to enhance the potentiality of the tourism industry.
Manager 2: Tourism industry needs association of other business industries such as
transportation, accommodation, food, retail and others. According to this respondent the socio-
cultural pattern of coastal areas of Sri Lanka is very supportive to the tourism growth.
Competition and market rivalry are moderate level in tourism and hospitality industry of Sri
Lanka.
Manager 3: Along with the Sri Lankan coastal areas, the local communities of internal areas
need more scopes of employment. It can increase their economic situation as well as resultant
growth of labour market necessary for a booming hospitality industry. Government should take
all the required steps to upgrade the business policies and international monetary regulation so
that the international level suppliers can collaboratively work with hospitality industry. At the
same time, the government should also improve the public services such as health, transportation
and others to ensure the security of the international tourists.
Manager 4: Government should work collaboratively with the public organisation to improve the
transportation system in terms of air, water as well as ground transportation. New business
ventures could also be involved in Sri Lankan tourism industry through collaborative work with
the local suppliers. Government can also help in this situation with proper subsidising.
Manager 5: Subsidising the oil price could be a major problem solving approach to increase the
number of foreign tourists among the attractive sites of the Sri-Lanka. Increasing the number of
vocational courses and professional educations in hospitality industry can develop a suitable

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labour market. Besides, communicating with the local people, increasing employment in the
central Sri-Lanka in the tourism sectors can highly enhance the scope of improving tourism
industry.
4.3 Discussion
From the above literature review and the analysis of data collected from the interview
the current market situation of tourism industry can be visualised considering both suppliers and
potential consumers. Both from the literature review and the interview sessions it is clear that the
Srilankan tourism industry is growing very slowly and hospitality industry is also facing very
slow paced improvement in last 5 to 10 years. It has been also found that transportation,
accommodation, food, retail and other industries are highly associated with the tourism industry
where lack of growth in those industries are causing major restrictions (Jayathilake 2013).
Considering this fact that socio-cultural pattern of coastal areas of Sri Lanka is very supportive to
the tourism growth, the local communities in central Sri Lanka are restricting the growth of
tourism through passive non-cooperation movements. Lacks of corporate social strategies are
also causing the cultural conflict within the tourism sites that resisting the tourism industry to
grow (Lokuhetty, Jayawardena and Mudadeniya 2013). At the same time it has been also found
that Lack of international level suppliers and poor integrity with the labour market s limiting the
standard of the tourism and hospitality industry of Sri Lanka. Poor food supply, accommodation
transpiration and others are limiting the growth of tourism in Central Sri Lanka where the
improvement of coastal areas is better.
From the literature review it has been found that both international and domestic tourism
are present in hospitality industry of Sri Lanka (Suresh and Senthilnathan 2014). It has been
found that poor transportation system considering the air, ground and water transports are

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limiting the supply chain logistics required for the tourism industry. Lack of new ventures in
tourism industry can be clearly noticeable. It has been also found that for both domestic and
international tourists the increasing oil prices and occasional recession reducing the investing
power causing the poor growth of inbound tourist count. Cost of flight is a major issue in Sri
Lankan tourism industry. Lack of funding and subsidisation from government is the major
limitation in the tourism industry of Sri Lanka. It is also restricting the collaborative business
culture as well in hospitality industry. It has been also found that ineffective and poor
administration of government and public services around the tourist sites are declining the
accommodation quality as well. From the data analysis it has been also found that conventional
and rigid industrial policy imposed by the government restricting the international interventions
in the tourism and hospitality industry of Sri Lanka.
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the tourism industry of Sri Lanka
possess the potential to become one of the most popular tourist destinations. The excellent
natural resources, highly communicable location and availability of a huge number of resorts and
hotels an be considered as some of the major strengths of the tourism industry of the nation.
However, a good number of weaknesses can also be pointed out that are hindering its way of
becoming a popular tourism destination. The mention worthy hindrances includes lack of
effective transport infrastructure and internet, lack of efficient human resources and high price
ranges of hotels and resorts. In order to deal with the above mentioned challenges, in the

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following paragraph, recommendations for necessary actions and strategies to pursue the
sustainable growth of Sri Lankan Tourism has been discussed.
1. Developing effective strategies in order to enhance the transport system of the
nation: Considering the fact that the government of Sri Lanka is investing to a great
extent in order to promote its tourism industry, it is highly crucial for the government to
enhance its investment cost to the transportation sectors (Maheshi 2015). The public
transportation facilities connecting one tourist destination to other needs to enhance.
Along with that, the government should also enhance transportation systems like Uber in
order to increase availability of taxies for both the local people ad tourist. Along with
transportation by land, sea transportation system of the nation also needs to be enhanced.
Sea transportation facilities like cruises should be implemented in order to gain
completive advantage over the competitors of Sri Lankan tourism industry.
2. Enhancing education and training facilities associated with the Tourism and
Hospitality industry: in order to deal with lower number of efficient employees in the
tourism and hospitality industry, it is highly crucial for the government to introduce
educational sectors associated with the same. The government can encourage the same by
enhancing job opportunities in the tourism and hospitality sectors along with enhancing
the remuneration of the staffs working in them mentioned sectors (Semasinghe 2016).
This in turn will not only attract employees to the sector but will also help the
organizations to retain skilled staffs.
3. Lowering the price range of 5 star hotels: Considering the fact that the mentioned
industry is highly competitive, even the slightest dissatisfaction possesses the potential to
shift their preference from Sri Lanka to its competitors (Kirillova, Gilmetdinova and

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Lehto 2014). Hence in order to retain as well as enhance it consumer base, the
management of hotels should provide superior quality of facilities to the tourist at a price
range either similar or slightly lower than its competitors. This strategy may lead to initial
decrement of revenue but will definitely enhance the consumer base in near future.

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