Sri Lanka’s variety of attractions in a compact destination as well as a new casino set to open in Colombo mid-2025 will provide Indian travellers with more reasons to visit, say Indian tourism officials.
According to Rajiv Mehra, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), Sri Lanka is a top choice for Indian travellers due to the destination’s proximity, cultural ties, and diverse attractions.
Mehra added that India has a strong market for gaming tourism, but travellers are limited by domestic options beyond Goa and Sikkim. As such, Sri Lanka, with its proximity and luxury offerings, presents a compelling alternative.
India is Sri Lanka’s biggest source market, accounting for 416,974 visitors out of a total of two million arrivals in 2024, and is more than double of second-placed Russia, which accounted for 201,920 guests.
Amitabh Kant, the man behind India’s highly successful nation branding campaigns, Incredible India and Kerala state’s God’s Own Country, recently told the media that Sri Lanka is a unique tourism product that has yet to be discovered by a vast majority of Indians.
During his visit to Colombo last week, Kant urged Indian travellers to “come and discover the rich heritage, culture and architecture of Sri Lanka”.
Kant, a retired Indian bureaucrat and the former chief executive officer of NITI Aayog, a public policy think tank of the government of India, noted that India has an outbound market of 20 million.
Source: TTG Asia
–Agencies
