JEDDAH: Sri Lanka said on Saturday night that it had been receiving a number of inquiries from investors in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Arab world for developing its tourist and hospitality sectors.
“We have received many inquiries from Saudis who are interested in investing in our hospitality and other tourism projects,” Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister for Tourism Faiszer Musthapha told a press conference on the sidelines of a road show organized by Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau-led 12 tour operators.
Sri Lanka Tourism is currently in the process of developing some of the areas liberated from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and hopes to make the island state a “full-fledged value-for-money” destination sooner than expected.
“Sri Lanka has a population of 21 million, eight percent of them Muslim. There is a mosque at a distance of every one and half kilometers. Its capital Colombo is a little more than six hours away by air from Jeddah and so could be considered as a favorite destination by Saudis as a short-haul and even weekend destination,” he said.
“We are developing eco tourism resorts and concentrating on how best to serve the growing number of tourists from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Arab and Middle East regions,” Musthapha said, adding that there has been a 24 percent jump in the number of travelers from this part of the world in 2008. He added that the island’s tourism had suffered a great deal on account of the ongoing battle against the rebels and it was Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa who took the initiative and was successfully liberating the areas held by the LTTE. “Most of the island is a safe place for tourists,” he said. “In fact, in the past two decades not a single overseas tourist has been targeted by the rebels.” “The government is taking all precautionary measures to protect the foreigners as well as locals in spite of the security situation prevailing in certain parts of the country,” Musthapha said. “But for the conflict, the tourist industry would have attracted many more tourists than the present annual average of 450,000 visitors,” he added.
Sri Lankan Consul General Abdul Latiff Mohamed Lafeer said the Indian Ocean island had been historically a favored country for Arab traders. Its colonial legacy goes back three centuries, and the influence left behind by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British forms the main focus. The island is favored for weddings and by honeymooners and offers a number of attractions to the country that is dotted with beaches, fishing and diving safaris, golf fields, lush greenery, spas, and shopping. It is also being rapidly favored for health and healing.
“In the central province, there is trekking and so many other new ideas and we will work together with the Tourism Ministry to raise the tourism industry, which is the fourth biggest grocer for the national economy,” Heba Al-Ghais Al-Mansoori, Middle East director for Sri Lankan Tourism, said. The country is rich in tea, rubber, coconut and gems.