Sri Lanka Tourism Authority chairman Dr Nalaka Godahewa says that every to
urist that visits Sri Lanka spends US$ eight for a day on average including accommodation, which needs to be increased up to US$ 150 level within next few years."An average tourist spends around US$ eight for a day, which is one of the lowest when compared to other tourist destinations in the region. Therefore, we need to push that amount to US$ 150 level," Dr Godahewa said at a media conference to announce the Airport Shopping Festival.
The festival was launched on the 15th November and will run until the 15th of January 2011 making it the first mega promotion in the "Visit Sri Lanka 2011" calendar year. The festival has been organized by the Airport and Aviation Service (Sri Lanka) Limited (AASL).
Dr Godahewa said that with the dawn of peace and normalcy in the country, tourist arrivals have been increasing. As end October, the number of tourist arrivals was 497,000 which was a 43 percent increase from a year ago.
"By the end of this year we anticipate arrivals would surpass 525,000 and this increase was without any promotional activity by Sri Lanka Tourism," Dr Godahewa said.
"With these development trends in the sector, all stakeholders should work hand in glove to promote different products and activities to increase tourist spending," he said.
Dr Godahewa also said that the ‘Airport Shopping Festival’ could also be used as a starting point to promote Sri Lanka as a shopping destination.
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