Sri Lanka Aims to Increase Tourist Arrivals by 20% as War Ends

Sri Lanka aims to increase tourist arrivals by at least 20 percent each year, using a $20 million worldwide advertising campaign to promote the island’s attractions after the end of almost three decades of civil war.

“The main task we have is that of image building,” Dileep Mudadeniya, managing director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said in an interview in the capital Colombo. “We have an image that has been challenged by war and travel advisories.”

The Indian Ocean nation, with picturesque hill-top tea plantations and a 2,500 kilometer (1,553 mile) coastline dotted with white sandy beaches, is relying on tourism to boost employment and foreign exchange. Still, television footage of thousands of refugees uprooted by war will make it harder for Sri Lanka to lure visitors away from other popular holiday spots like Malaysia, the Seychelles, Madagascar, and Mexico.

Get the full story at: Bloomberg