In 2022, Sri Lanka’s economic and political crisis placed tourism under pressure. The interview discussed below described the sector’s response at that time.
Sri Lanka’s Tourism Recovery: A 2022 Industry Interview
This archive feature discusses the country’s tourism sector during the 2022 economic crisis, drawing on Hiran Cooray’s interview with ET Hospitality World.
The hospitality sector, and its major components, tourism and travel, function on reputation and this reputation was badly affected by the images of crisis and shortages of cooking gas and fuel that were repeatedly telecasted on television, the internet and around the world which resulted in a loss to any business on the island.
The article described a QR-code system for allocating fuel in 2022. According to Cooray, “As a tourist, you have absolutely no problem either to use transport from a company like or a private operator, as long as they are registered with the tourist board.” These remarks describe Cooray’s assessment in the 2022 interview.
“Imported food is not available, so you won’t get Argentinian steaks or Scottish salmon, but there is plenty of Sri Lanka seafood on the table,” he stressed.
“All the hotels are operational, restaurants operational, parties are happening, weddings are happening, all the normal things are going on. Of course, India has been the biggest supporter. There is interest and inquiries are coming in from Indian markets that we promote in India—we are expecting the recovery to be solely driven by India because there is great connectivity with Sri Lanka and Indian Airlines operating into Colombo which means you can decide to come today and be here tomorrow! Whereas somebody from Europe cannot decide on the spur of the moment, since they have to travel a long way,” Cooray added.
“By coming here as visitors, you’re helping the country. You’re bringing in either Indian rupees—which are now acceptable—or US Dollars. Two-and-a-half million people depend directly and indirectly on tourism. So by coming here, you’re helping us a lot,” he said as the interview continued.
The article also reported Cooray’s view that changes to travel advisories in source markets could support promotion of Sri Lanka.
“In August, we had about 40,000 foreign tourists visiting Sri Lanka and I would think in September this number might go up to maybe 50-60,000,” he said, while also admitting that this number is very short of 150-200,000 on that island welcomed in the year 2018. He though hopes that the hospitality sector is revived to its glorious state of 2018 by end of December 2022.
Hiran Cooray is not the only expert on the tourism sector of Sri Lanka who has voiced concerns and opinions regarding its state. Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister Harin Fernando is also a personality who has been very vocal about the tourism sector of Sri Lanka and how the country is trying to revive it.
The hospitality sector of the Sri Lanka economy is also focused on welcoming 1 million tourists by end of 2022 and during his visit to Gujarat, Fernando on Sunday voiced his opinion on how the hospitality sector of Sri Lanka is trying to recover and is relying on help from India.
“There are a lot of commonalities we can find with India, and we think the next year will be mostly dedicated to India. Till now (this year), we have had 75,000 Indian tourists coming to Sri Lanka, followed by the United Kingdom (65,000). The first two-three months were good, and then we had a very dull period between April-June (due to political turmoil),” Fernando added.
“Sri Lanka, some would say, is a sort of India, we are a part of India…We are the pearl of the Indian Ocean, the value of Sri Lanka would be for Indians and we need to work that out with Indians,”. Fernando further stated “Indians will have a better value for money while touring Sri Lanka rather than Indian destinations at this moment. Sri Lanka has a lot more to offer,”
For later reporting, see our October 2026 coverage of Sri Lanka hotel performance.
