COVID-19 Global pandemic has now brought the entire socio-economic structures in to a standstill state all over the world. It has already challenged the global operations of several business sectors. Time has come to rethink how to recover and regain of the economy, employment and business functions with a fresh beginning in most of the worsened economic sectors. South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka; Afghanistan and the Maldives) with a population of 1.8 billion has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to poor public health infrastructure, pervasive informality and poor coverage of social protection. The key sectors such as MSMEs, tourism and labour-intensive exports such as readymade garments have been most adversely impacted, leading to loss of jobs for the millions of people in the sub-region. The economic growth has come to a grinding halt and the threat of rising incidence of poverty, hunger and inequality is real. This sudden fall in tourism industry have created severe economic and social consequences within and beyond tourism in the region. Sri Lanka is a country with open economy, has hit badly under this circumstances, in particularly the Sri Lankan export market. Sri Lankan Rupee is depreciating and U.S Dollar has increased to Rs.197/= by January 2021. Total export of Sri Lanka in 2019 was $16.14Bn which comprised $11.94Bn from Merchandise exports and $4.2Bn from service sector. The services sector revenue generation was mainly from the tourism industry which amounts to $3.6Bn during 2019. However this was 18% drop compares to previous year which was $4.2Bn in 2018, following the Easter Sunday attack in April 2019. As a result of COVID-19 global pandemic outbreaks, many countries imposed travel restrictions and locked down no of cities/countries. Sri Lankan government imposed Island wide curfew on 20th March 2020 resulting tourism industry dropped to the bottom while crippling the Sri Lankan economy. For Sri Lanka, tourism sector’s contribution towards countries development is been quite considerable. This paper discuss the present situation, how to recapture the tourism market and to create new opportunities for future growth in this foreign currency earning very important sector in Sri Lanka as well as in South Asian Region.
| Published in | International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management (Volume 5, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijhtm.20210501.13 |
| Page(s) | 15-20 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Merchandise Exports, Service Exports, Tourism Industry, MICE Industry, Eco Tourism, Ayurvedic Tourism, Per Capita Income (GDP)
| [1] | Open Knowledge repository, June 2020. |
| [2] | United Nations World Tourism Organization, (2020). “Impact assessment of the COVID-19 outbreak on international tourism”. |
| [3] | Ranasinghe, R., & Sugandhika, M. G. P. (2018). “The contribution of tourism income for the economic growth of Sri Lanka”. |
| [4] | Daily Fit (April 10th 2020); Strategies for Sri Lanka aim Covid 19 Crisis http://www.ft.lk/front-page/Forward-march-Strategies-for-Sri-Lanka-amid-COVID-19-crisis/44-698718 |
| [5] | Ruwan Ranasinghe, Anupama Damunupola, Shamila Wijesundara, Chandi Karunarathna Dhananjaya Nawarathna, Sammani Gamage, Amaya Ranaweera, Ali Abdulla Idroos (April 2020) “Tourism after Corona: Impact of Covid19 Pandemicandway Forward for Hotel and MICE Industry in Sri Lanka”. |
| [6] | Daily. (2020). Tourism industry meets to assess COVID-19 impact, way forward. http://www.ft.lk/front-page/Tourism-industry-meets-to-assess-COVID-19-impact-way-forward/44-696983 |
| [7] | The future of tourism in Asia during Corona Virus Era - Julia Hollingsworth and Kocha Olarn, CNN • Updated 13th May 2020. |
| [8] | “The Success stories from South East Asia Amidst the Global Pandemic” – Discova, September 2020. |
| [9] | COVID-19 AND TOURISM IN SOUTH ASIA Opportunities for sustainable regional outcomes – World bank Report, December 2020. |
| [10] | Reviving Tourism amid the COVID-19 Pandemic – ADB Brief No 150, September 2020 by Matthias Helble and Anna Fink. |
| [11] | CNBC – “Southeast Asia struggles to kick start its battered tourism industry as the pandemic chokes demand” October 2020 by Nessa Anwar. |
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| [13] | Impacts of COVID-19 on global tourism industry: A cross-regional comparison, Elsevier Public Health Emergency Collection, October 2020 by Naciye Güliz Uğur and Adem Akbıyık. |
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| [15] | Regional Collaboration can help South Asian Nations rebuild and Strengthen Tourism Industry, Hartwing Schafer, July 2020. |
| [16] | Travel and tourism recovery: a perspective for South Asia and lessons for other regions in the age of COVID-19; World Economic Forum; 24 Aug 2020 Ritwija Darbari. |
APA Style
Senanayake, U. J. (2021). Threats and Opportunities of the COVID-19 on Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka and South Asian Region. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management, 5(1), 15-20. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijhtm.20210501.13
ACS Style
Senanayake, U. J. Threats and Opportunities of the COVID-19 on Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka and South Asian Region. Int. J. Hosp. Tour. Manag. 2021, 5(1), 15-20. doi: 10.11648/j.ijhtm.20210501.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijhtm.20210501.13,
author = {Upul Jayapriya Senanayake},
title = {Threats and Opportunities of the COVID-19 on Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka and South Asian Region},
journal = {International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management},
volume = {5},
number = {1},
pages = {15-20},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijhtm.20210501.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijhtm.20210501.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijhtm.20210501.13},
abstract = {COVID-19 Global pandemic has now brought the entire socio-economic structures in to a standstill state all over the world. It has already challenged the global operations of several business sectors. Time has come to rethink how to recover and regain of the economy, employment and business functions with a fresh beginning in most of the worsened economic sectors. South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka; Afghanistan and the Maldives) with a population of 1.8 billion has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to poor public health infrastructure, pervasive informality and poor coverage of social protection. The key sectors such as MSMEs, tourism and labour-intensive exports such as readymade garments have been most adversely impacted, leading to loss of jobs for the millions of people in the sub-region. The economic growth has come to a grinding halt and the threat of rising incidence of poverty, hunger and inequality is real. This sudden fall in tourism industry have created severe economic and social consequences within and beyond tourism in the region. Sri Lanka is a country with open economy, has hit badly under this circumstances, in particularly the Sri Lankan export market. Sri Lankan Rupee is depreciating and U.S Dollar has increased to Rs.197/= by January 2021. Total export of Sri Lanka in 2019 was $16.14Bn which comprised $11.94Bn from Merchandise exports and $4.2Bn from service sector. The services sector revenue generation was mainly from the tourism industry which amounts to $3.6Bn during 2019. However this was 18% drop compares to previous year which was $4.2Bn in 2018, following the Easter Sunday attack in April 2019. As a result of COVID-19 global pandemic outbreaks, many countries imposed travel restrictions and locked down no of cities/countries. Sri Lankan government imposed Island wide curfew on 20th March 2020 resulting tourism industry dropped to the bottom while crippling the Sri Lankan economy. For Sri Lanka, tourism sector’s contribution towards countries development is been quite considerable. This paper discuss the present situation, how to recapture the tourism market and to create new opportunities for future growth in this foreign currency earning very important sector in Sri Lanka as well as in South Asian Region.},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Threats and Opportunities of the COVID-19 on Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka and South Asian Region AU - Upul Jayapriya Senanayake Y1 - 2021/04/23 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijhtm.20210501.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ijhtm.20210501.13 T2 - International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management JF - International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management JO - International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management SP - 15 EP - 20 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2640-1800 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijhtm.20210501.13 AB - COVID-19 Global pandemic has now brought the entire socio-economic structures in to a standstill state all over the world. It has already challenged the global operations of several business sectors. Time has come to rethink how to recover and regain of the economy, employment and business functions with a fresh beginning in most of the worsened economic sectors. South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka; Afghanistan and the Maldives) with a population of 1.8 billion has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to poor public health infrastructure, pervasive informality and poor coverage of social protection. The key sectors such as MSMEs, tourism and labour-intensive exports such as readymade garments have been most adversely impacted, leading to loss of jobs for the millions of people in the sub-region. The economic growth has come to a grinding halt and the threat of rising incidence of poverty, hunger and inequality is real. This sudden fall in tourism industry have created severe economic and social consequences within and beyond tourism in the region. Sri Lanka is a country with open economy, has hit badly under this circumstances, in particularly the Sri Lankan export market. Sri Lankan Rupee is depreciating and U.S Dollar has increased to Rs.197/= by January 2021. Total export of Sri Lanka in 2019 was $16.14Bn which comprised $11.94Bn from Merchandise exports and $4.2Bn from service sector. The services sector revenue generation was mainly from the tourism industry which amounts to $3.6Bn during 2019. However this was 18% drop compares to previous year which was $4.2Bn in 2018, following the Easter Sunday attack in April 2019. As a result of COVID-19 global pandemic outbreaks, many countries imposed travel restrictions and locked down no of cities/countries. Sri Lankan government imposed Island wide curfew on 20th March 2020 resulting tourism industry dropped to the bottom while crippling the Sri Lankan economy. For Sri Lanka, tourism sector’s contribution towards countries development is been quite considerable. This paper discuss the present situation, how to recapture the tourism market and to create new opportunities for future growth in this foreign currency earning very important sector in Sri Lanka as well as in South Asian Region. VL - 5 IS - 1 ER -
Colombo Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Athurugiriya, Sri Lanka
