Abstract:
Tourism is considered as an important economic
activity around the world due to its direct economic impact as
well as it's significant indirect and induced impacts. According
to the World Travel and Tourism Council, Travel & Tourism
industry is one of the world’s largest economic sectors accounts
for 10.4% of global GDP and 313 million jobs, or 9.9% of total
employment, in 2017. Direct and indirect impact of this on real
estate development in the world is tremendous in terms of
accommodation, catering to food and beverages, leisure
pleasure & relaxation and so on. In Sri Lanka, tourism is the
third largest export earner in the economy and during the past
five years, there has been an unprecedented growth in the
industry. But tourism in Sri Lanka has much more untapped
potential where the industry is poised to offer great growth and
investment potential. And through right policies and
investment decisions, Sri Lanka can leverage the economic
prospects of Travel & Tourism Industry. This study analyses
the importance of travel & tourism industry in terms of real
estate development and reviews major trends that are shaping
the growth and development of the travel & tourism industry
in Sri Lanka. This will be important to policymakers in
preparing right policies and in making the right investment
decisions. The analysis is based on modified Tourism Satellite
Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008
(TSA: RMF 2008) published by World Travel & Tourism
Council, and carried out analyzing both academic and nonacademic publications, including published journal articles,
annual and quarterly reports published by United Nations’
World Tourism Organization, World Travel & Tourism
Council, World Economic Forum and Sri Lanka Tourism
Development Authority and through the raw data obtained by
World Travel & Tourism Council for Sri Lanka. As per the
analysis, the future outlook is bright for the tourism sector in
Sri Lanka, and the country is expected to maintain a high rate
of growth well into the next decade.
