History And Growth Of Tourism In Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s documented history goes back 3,000 years, with evidence of prehistoric human
settlements dating back 125,000 years. The earliest known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka,
known collectively as the Pāli canon, date to the fourth Buddhist council, which took place
in 29 BCE. Also called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, or the Granary of the East, Sri Lanka’s
geographic location and deep harbors have made it of great strategic importance, from
the earliest days of the ancient Silk Road trade route to today’s so-called maritime Silk
Road.
Because its location made it a major trading hub, it was already known to both East Asians
and Europeans as long ago as the king ravana’s period.
great king ravana’s queen is mandodari who was the daughter for mayadanawaya in Mayan
civilization was originated in 2600 b.c.e.(Mexico and Belize in central America)
Mayadanawaya is the greatest ruler architecture and technician who was created Ravana’s
aircraft and palace. They were interacting with their highly developed culture with systems
of aircraft technology, architecture, mathematics, arts, astronomy, politics and military
power.
After the distroinment of this great two civilizations great king pandukabaya started a
political and economic interconnection with Greece. King pandukabaya gave greatest
political power to Greeks and he gave control authority in main mincipale power to greeks.
It was named yawanawaththu Pura (Greek main municipal council )
After the king pandukabaya duration king wijaya made lot of connections with India and
gave most political power and economic power also to Indian people who were settled
hear. After that lot of Sri Lankan kings were followed by this and keeping a strong
transactions with India.
During a period of great political crisis in the Kingdom of Kotte, the Portuguese arrived in Sri
Lanka and sought to control its maritime trade, with a part of Sri Lanka subsequently
becoming a Portuguese possession. After the Sinhalese-Portuguese war, the Dutch Empire
and the Kingdom of Kandy took control of those areas. The Dutch possessions were then
taken by the British, who later extended their control over the whole island, colonizing it
from 1815 to 1948. A national movement for political independence arose in the early 20th
century, and in 1948, Ceylon became a dominion. It was succeeded by the republic of Sri
Lanka in 1972. In British era they have started many accommodation facilities and
businesses communities such as galle face hotel, grand oriental hotel, mount lavinia hotel,
queens hotel and also developed down south, up country,southern province &western
province as attractive areas.
Henry Steel Olcott was an American military officer, journalist, lawyer, Freemason
(member of Huguenot Lodge now and the co-founder and first president of
the theosophical Society came to Sri Lanka with Helena Blavatsky on 1874.
When the government decided to develop the tourism sector as a separate sector of the
country’s economy by establishing the Ceylon Tourist Bureau in 1966, there were 18,969
foreign tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka. There was an upward trend of tourist arrivals until 1982,
with the exception of 1971. Between 1976 and 1982, tourist arrivals had increased by 24%
per year. The tourist traffic in 1982 showed that there was a remarkable growth in the
number of tourists, with 407,230 arrivals.However, with the beginning of the civil war in
1983, the growth of tourist arrivals declined and stagnated to around 300,000 – 500,000
arrivals annually.
The civil war that had lasted over 25 years ended in 2009 as LTTE separatists were defeated
by government forces. In 2009 the tourist arrivals numbered 448,000, and in 2015,
1,798,380, showing over 300% growth in six years.
Sri Lanka is a popular tourist destination. Tourism is a key industry that attracts
international tourists yearly. Sri Lanka has been recognized as the 5th best country to
visit in your lifetime, according to CEOWORLD Magazine’s prestigious rankings for 2024.

Foreigners visit Sri Lanka to see nature, wildlife, historical monuments, and
indigenous culture. In 2018, tourist arrivals peaked at 2.5 million, who spent a total of
US$5.6 billion in the country.
In a string of events making Sri Lanka less desirable for tourists, the bomb atracks in a five
star hotel (Shangri-la) in Colombo on 21 st of April 2019 added a bitter note to the Sri
Lanka tourism .
However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused tourist numbers to decrease by 92% in 2020. As
of 2022, tourist numbers have not rebounded from the pre-crisis high. The government is
attempting to attract foreign investment in the country’s tourism industry, which began in
earnest after the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009.
This year has seen over 700,000 tourists visiting the country, and in 2023, more than 1.4 million
tourists arrived, reflecting a remarkable 106% growth compared to 2022.
The Ministry of Tourism is pleased to have welcomed over 1.4 million Tourists to Sri Lanka in 2023.
State Minister also said that the measures are underway for further tourism development and
attracting more tourists to the country this year.
The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka climbed by 13% year-on-year to 113,470 in June
2024, after an upwardly revised 34.6% growth in the previous month.
Amon key markets, India remained the top tourist source market (25.2%), followed by the UK
(8.2%), China (7.6%), and Australia(5.6%).
Jul 10, 2024Anticipating continued growth, the Ministry aims for 02 million tourists in 2024,
projecting expected revenue of US $ 06 billion.

Dr Indumini Bandara
Director (FICO)