Destinations known | A million Chinese tourists a year to Sri Lanka? It is still waiting
- Sri Lanka’s ambassador to China recently reasserted his country’s goal, and one of China’s largest outbound travel agencies has reportedly committed to it
- Perhaps more important than Sri Lanka’s on-the-ground attractions is the fact that Beijing and Colombo are on increasingly good terms
In 2014, English-language state-run newspaper China Daily called Sri Lanka “pretty much the perfect holiday destination”, touting its “golden beaches, towering mountains, ancient monuments and stunning wildlife all enclosed in a compact island”.
At the time, the South Asian nation was on a tourism charm offensive “with a heavy focus on attracting Chinese revenue, from tourists and investors alike”, according to China Daily. And in its sights were 2.5 million “high-spending tourists” by 2016, 1 million of which, it was hoped, would come from China.
Sri Lanka somewhat missed the mark that year – attracting 1.37 million visitors, of which 271,577 were Chinese – but its focus hasn’t wavered, with the country’s ambassador to China, Dr Palitha Kohona, recently reasserting: “Our goal is 1 million Chinese tourists to Sri Lanka.”
Speaking at an online conference attended by “many Chinese tour operators and environmental NGOs”, Kohona “encouraged Chinese tour groups to direct at least a million tourists to Sri Lanka”, reports Sri Lankan newspaper the Daily News. “The ambassador elaborated on Sri Lanka’s green credentials, including its vast forest cover, the 7,000-odd wild elephants, the highest concentration of leopards in Asia, the 26 species of whales off our shores, including the giant blue whale.”
Perhaps more important than on-the-ground attractions, though, is the fact that Beijing and Colombo are on increasingly good terms.