Sri Lanka

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Outbound Tourism of United Kingdom British Holidaymakers and Sri Lankan Tourism Prospects and Key Challenges Recommendations and suggestions 01. Introduction on United Kingdom and Its Tourism Industry When it comes to travel and leisure industry, the United Kingdom (UK) ranks as originate place of industrial revolution two centuries ago. Mass scale leisure travelling also started from the United Kingdom in 1841 when Thomas Cook introduced the leisure trips to his customers. There onwards, industry expanded best known as “Travel & Hospitality Industry” expanding its limits to infinity. While travel & tourism industry is one of the economically valuable industries in the world, the population of the United Kingdom with 65 millions of people (0.008% of the world population) had been performing well in the travel industry who used to have the biggest empire on earth less than a century ago. United Kingdom is the fifth largest economy in the world, comprising 3.5% of world GDP. When it comes to tourism, United Kingdom is the 4th largest tourism spender in the world according to UNWTO report. There are 70 million foreign trips recorded from the country. 1.1 Historical Relationship Of Sri Lanka & United Kingdom & Colonial Effect On The Tourism Industry In Sri Lanka Sri Lanka used to be a historical centre for international trading. Hence, there are number of ancient references to Sri Lanka by foreigners who visited the country such as Iban Bathutha, Robert Knox etc. However basic infrastructure and faculties needed for travel and tourism industry were built during the colonial time. According to Fernando, S., Bandara, J., & Smith (2006) initial infrastructure and amenities were built but not specifically aiming at tourism. Some luxury accommodation was built colonial time planters, governors and other visitors. Those luxury accommodation facilities were converted to star class hotels which were later used for tourism and hospitality industry. Galleface Hotel; iconic city hotel of Colombo was built by four entrepreneurs in 1864 and later converted into a luxury hotel. Mount Lavinia Hotel has glorious story behind its creation by Sir Thomas Maitland who used to be the governor of Sri Lanka. The Grand Hotel is another fabulous colonial hotel located in Nuwaraeliya used to be a holiday home of the 5th Governor of Sri Lanka Sir Edward Barnes. Apart of these star class luxury hotels, there are several guest houses located all around the country which were built during the colonial period. Apart from the accommodation facilities which help to establish the industry, the other important factor established by the British colonials were the basic infrastructure facilities which were developed later. The road network and most importantly railway network was built by the British directly advances not only the tourism industry but also every industry of the country. 2. Outbound Tourism of United Kingdom As stated above, the United Kingdom is the place which originated the leisure travel to the World. Being the country which started the industrialisation and which used to have the biggest colonial empire in the world, the wealth belonged to British people allow them to travel, explore and relax abroad. According to the statistics taken from Office for National Statistics UK, from 1980 to 2016 number of visits by the UK residents have grown up from 17 million to nearly 71 million which is an average annual growth of 4%. Most significantly, the spending done abroad by the UK residents have grown up from £2738 million to £ 43000 which is 8% of annual growth. The growth rate of spending is drastical during 80’s and 90’s and it has a negative affect or slow increase just before and after the recession in 2009. Despite the slowdown in economic growth, European outbound travel has grown by 3%. Globally, United Kingdom is one of the top five spenders in outbound tourism. Outbound travel is increasing steadily in the United Kingdom along with domestic and inbound tourism. According to the Office for National Statistics of the UK, residents of the United Kingdom made 70.4 million outbound trips in 2016, which is a 7% increase compared to 2015. Trips taken as holiday remained the main purpose of the trip for UK outbound tourists in 2016 followed by visiting friends and relatives and business trips. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the outbound tourism expenditure of UK travelers crossed US$ 70 billion and is projected to reach US$ 102 billion by the end of 2024. The outbound travel sector in the United Kingdom provides employment on par with other well-known and recognized industries, such as food and electrical equipment manufacturing and machinery and equipment industries. Relatively, high disposable income per capita is expected to drive the United Kingdom’s outbound tourism sector. Baby Boomers, with more free time and money for travel, are the most important segment of the UK outbound travel sector. The baby boomer generation has topped the market share of the UK outbound travel sector mainly attributed to the recent changes in pension annuities. According to the International Passenger Survey, the residents of UK prefer July and August for travel abroad mainly due to the long school holidays. Other popular months are April, May, June, October and November. January to March is a popular time for single-week ski trips and winter sun breaks to cheap destinations, usually as an extra holiday. Along with the international airports, the United Kingdom has many regional airports offering international services to important destinations which include Manchester, Nottingham, East Midlands, Liverpool and Leeds. Medical tourism across the globe also faced difficulties in the last couple of years. Outbound medical tourism from Britain has recovered slowly after the recession. Factors including poor National Health Service delivery, problems with National Health Service dentistry, and objections and delays relating to National Health Service has encouraged the medical tourism. Reforms have helped boost the outbound tourism sector in the UK. The residents of the UK seek cheap medical treatment abroad and look for countries such as Poland and Bulgaria for medical help. However, factors such as

Introduction About Sri Lanka This tiny country located in the deep south of Asia, just at the tip of India has a lot for the travellers around the World. This article is about all you want to know to travel in Sri Lanka.  Sri Lanka is a small tropical island located closer to the equator which guarantees bright sunshine throughout the year. Among hundreds of reasons to visit Sri Lanka, the following are few that will convince you why you should include Sri Lanka in your bucket list. Click here to ENQUIRE for a free travel proposal Why You Should Visit Sri Lanka Culture & Heritage of Sri Lanka Nature & Wildlife of Sri Lanka Hill Country Highlands of Sri Lanka​ Beaches in Sri Lanka​ Culture & Heritage of Sri Lanka Ancient Kingdom – North Central Dryzone Colonial Heritage Ancient Heritage – East & South East of Sri Lanka.​ Buddhist Temples & Culture & Heritage of Sri Lanka​ Underwater Life & Activities​ Sri Lanka inherits a rich cultural & historical heritage. The written history of the country goes back to more than 2500 years and there is evidence that this country was inhabited by humans even 5000 years ago. Sri Lankan ancient powerful kingdoms which had healthy diplomatic relationships with contemporary global powers such as Rome, Persia and India. But things changed when the country was colonised by three European empires ; Portugese, Dutch & British starting from 1505 to 1948. British were the only nation who controlled the entire country while the other two colonial nations controlled only the coastal stretch of the island.  Human settlements in the central hills of the country were started during the British colonial period mainly due to plantation industry and also the preferable English weather in Sri Lanka with mild heat. The most popular area for the Culture & Heritage of the country is the Cultural Triangle in Sri Lanka. This is the area where most of the ancient kingdoms were located before the western colonisation. If you are in love in history and heritage, you should not miss this part when you travel in Sri Lanka.  Ancient Kingdom – North Central Dryzone There are several historical ruins and monuments that can be witnessed in places such as Anuradhapura, the first kingdom of the country, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kurunegala & Kandy. Based on your choice, these well-known areas for Culture and Heritage and also some hidden less popularistic historical sites are located around the north central dry zone of Sri Lanka for you to visit. Colonial Heritage Since colonial administrations were placed towards the coastline of Sri Lanka, the colonial cultural monuments also located around the western coastal belt. Colombo city was named as the capital of Sri Lanka during the colonial period and therefore it has a large number of colonial heritage sites to visit. Forts built by Dutches are located all around the country while Galle Fort, Jaffna Fort, Matara Fort, and Colombo Fort are much popular among the travellers. Hill country capital – Nuwaraeliya used to be the administrative centre during the British colonial period, as it is the centre of the Tea Plantation of Sri Lanka. Several Colonial bungalows were converted as Luxury Boutique hotels as of today due to the beauty of those bungalows and their location. Ancient Heritage – East & South East of Sri Lanka.​ South Eastern cultural and historical places are something which has not been exposed to the travellers in Sri Lanka. According to the history, while the main kingdom had been controlling the country from the North Central area, whenever an invasion occured from an Indian kingdom, the kingdom had temporarily moved to the Southern Dry Zone areas. There are some ruins can be still seen around Yala and Monaragala areas. Most of those sites are not crowded with foriegn tourists and can visit the locations without any charges.  Buddhist Temples & Culture & Heritage of Sri Lanka​ If you have a conversation on the history, culture or heritage of Sri Lanka with a typical Sri Lankan, they normally tell you about the temples in Sri Lanka. This is due to two main reasons. One is Sri Lankan ancient kingdoms are very much attached to Buddhism and most of the historically preserved sites have some kind of religious background. Ex – Anuradhapura, the first kingdom of the country is the most sacred place among Sri Lankan Buddhists due to the Bo Tree of “Sri Maha Bodhiya” and other large stupa (Pagodas). If you are keen on visiting unpopular historical attractions in Sri Lanka, one of the best ways is to visit an ancient temple located anywhere in Sri Lanka and those temples are the route of an interesting ancient story of the area and place. Nature & Wildlife of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Elephants National Parks in Sri Lanka How to fit in National Parks in Sri Lanka into your travel itinerary.​ Rainforests of Sri Lanka​ Birds Watching​ Sri Lanka is gifted with a unique nature & wildlife. Even though Sri Lanka is a small tropical island, compared to other countries, the rich biodiversity is unbeatable by any other country in the world. Diverse natural beauty has spread across the island and wildlife is mainly living in the dryzone of the country.  If you are a fan of wildlife & nature, I would like you to divide the Sri Lankan Nature & Wildlife into a few areas.  READ – Tour Operators & Travel Agents in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Elephants One of the best God-gifted is the large population of Elephants in Sri Lanka. Elephants one of the most common reason of many people to travel in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has the third largest Elephant population in Asia after India & Myanmar.  According to the World Wild life Organisation, Sri Lankan elephants are the biggest among the Asian elephants. According to an archaeological research, there is a long history to the relationship with elephants and humans in Sri Lanka which goes beyond the prehistoric period. 

UPDATE – 18th March 2020 Bandaranayaka Airport of Sri Lanka, the only international Airport in the country has stopped arrival flights from 18th March 2020, 12 midnight onwards. This will effect untill 31st of March. Since the number of new COVID-19 positive patience are increased upto 50 (as on 18th March 2020), government of Sri Lanka is taking strict procedures to control the pandemic to spread in Sri Lanka. 12th March 2020 Sri Lankan government has suspended the on-arrival visa facility for all countries from 12th March 2020. Therefore anyone who is planning to visit Sri Lanka has to obtain the visa from online. Please visit http://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/ to apply online visa.  Sri Lanka found 1st local COVID-19-positive person on 12th March 2020. The person is a Tourist Guide who handle Italian Tour Groups. The country is following strict procedures to identify any new COVID-19-infected people around the country, especially from the people who are coming from other countries. COVID-19 INFECTED PEOPLE IN SRI LANKA Earlier, one Chinese national COVID-19 infected patient found inside the country who was a traveller from China and she was treated in a Sri Lankan hospital and fully recovered. The cured virus infected women was ceremonially sent back to China. Apart from the above incident, there were a number patients tested negative for COVID-19 tests who arrived from numerous countries to Sri Lanka. RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA It is estimated that around 10,000 Chinese nationals are living in Sri Lanka and Chinese embassy has postponed their nationals to come back to the workplaces in Sri lanka after the Chinese new year season. China is the second highest tourism source of Sri Lanka but almost all the travel plans are cancelled due to the outbreak. Sri Lankan students who were studying in China (including the estates where COVID-19 heavily spread) are back in Sri Lanka and the quarantine process of 14 days was applied for the students who came from the high risk areas of CoronaVirus. None of the students were identified as corona infected and they are back to the families now. COVID-19 IS SPREADING ALL OVER THE WORLD As the Covid-19 is spreading all over the World, especially in South Korea, Iran & Italy, Sri Lankan authorities have introduced special measurements to control outbreak in Sri Lanka. Anyone who arrive from South Korea, Irand or Italy has to go through 14 days compulsory quarantine period in a special allocated place in Sri Lanka. It is also advised by the goverment any local who are coming from abraod to stay 14 days inside the home before come in to the society for day-today work.   IMPORTANT SOURCES Official Daily Situation Update from the Goverment of Sri Lanka is available here. TripAdvisor has a travel update on Covid-19 which is available here.

TABLE OF CONTENTS  Weather In Sri Lanka​  For Beach Lovers School Holidays In Sri Lanka Best Events In The Country When You Visit Sri Lanka. Closures Of National Parks​ Times Crowded With Locals Most Expensive Periods To Travel Be Adventuristic Sri Lanka is considered a year round destination where anyone can travel around the country, anytime of the year. Whatever the time you visit Sri Lanka, you can easily stay for more than 10 nights (10 nights stay is the average time spend by all the tourists to Sri Lanka) of fully active travel itinerary by selecting your favorite spots to visit. However, there are few considerations you MUST take into account prior to making the decision of the best time to visit this beautiful island Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is considered a year round destination where anyone can travel around the country, anytime of the year. Whatever the time you visit Sri Lanka, you can easily stay for more than 10 nights (10 nights stay is the average time spend by all the tourists to Sri Lanka) of fully active travel itinerary by selecting your favorite spots to visit. However, there are few considerations you MUST take into account prior to making the decision of the best time to visit this beautiful island Sri Lanka. 01. Weather in Sri Lanka When it comes to the best time to visit a country, the weather is the most crucial factor to consider. If you have done a little bit of research on Sri Lanka, you might have found that Sri Lanka has two main rainy seasons. Goverment Website of Meteorology of Sri lanka Following are some insights on Sri Lankan weather. 01. South West Monsoon Season This is the heaviest rainfall Sri Lanka gets. Because of this reason, the area covered from this rainy season belongs to the wet zone of Sri Lanka. During the period from the end of April to the end of June, an ample rain can be expected in the areas mentioned above. But during the month of July to mid September, it will be a considerably dry season overall but you may get occasional rain in some  part of the areas mentioned. However, I should emphasise that this rain will not affect the day today lives or activities of anyone in the country. Therefore, I would suggest if someone is planning to visit Sri Lanka during May to July please avoid south and south west part of the country (areas mentioned above) while it is open to travel from July onwards. Please refer below notes, if you are a beach lover. 02. North East monsoon North East monsoon season only lasts for 3 months mainly in the areas mentioned above. This is the main water source to the north and north-central dry zone where the ancient civilization of Sri Lanka was. The first kingdom of Sri Lanka started nearly 2300 years ago in Anuradhapura and shifted to other areas thereafter to Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Kurunegala which were spanning to be the kingdom for more than 15 centuries. All the cultural and heritage hotspots are located in this area and it receives a limited amount of rain throughout the year. Therefore, you would notice that there are hundreds of man made water tanks located in the north, east and north central provinces. Therefore, if you are a fan of culture and heritage and tropical nature and wildlife, Sri Lanka is open for you almost all the time. 03. Inter Monsoon Seasons Apart from the two monsoon seasons, Sri Lanka has two inter-monsoon season bridging the gap between two major monsoon seasons. Normally, this inter-monsoon rain does not last throughout the day but starts in the evening with thunderstorms. Inter-monsoon can affect the entire country but mainly the wet zone such as south, south west and south and west part of the central highlands. 04. Floods & Landslides Floods and landslides has becoming more common during the era which climate change hit the world. Historical weather patterns are now being changed and unexpected weather calamities are happening. Sri Lanka cannot escape the effect of climate change as a tropical island country. The diverse weather cannot be predicted but there are few instances that we could avoid such situations. Please avoid visiting areas which will be affected by highest rainfall during the monsoon rains. Normally, the month of May, it can be Galle, Matara, Rathnapura, Matugama, Aluthgama & South-west parts of the highlands such as Kitulgala, Watawala & Ginigathhena. There are few roads which can be affected by the landslides. That is mainly the Hatton – Colombo road mainly and other subsidiary roads around the area. Please avoid the central highland trains during heavy rains. 02. For Beach Lovers If you would like to read about all the beaches please read about Sri Lankan Beaches here. If you are a person, who would love to have a few leisure days at a sunny and sandy beach where you can surf or take a dip in Sri Lanka, it is better to select the right beach area depending on your time of visit to Sri Lanka. Best time to visit Sri Lanka matters on the quality of your beach stay. Please follow the chart below. Majority of Sri Lankans (Sinhalese & Tamils) celebrate their traditional new year in the month of April, particularly for 2 days although it will take a festive vibe for almost 10 days. Moreover, a semester break is given to schools for 3 good weeks and most of the government and private sector organisations will have at least a week holiday except essential jobs. Since there are a number of traditional events, most of the families will keep to their homes to celebrate the new year, partying and visiting relatives and city of Colombo can be deserted without people who travel to it daily from outside. Be prepared when travelling in New Year in Sri Lanka. 03. School Holidays in Sri Lanka Holidays abroad is not