Congratulations Sri Lanka! We did it again!

In the 2024 Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards, Sri Lanka jumped from eighth place to first place, winning the Gold Award for Most Desirable Island. The prize, which was decided by more than 3 million votes, highlights the island’s appeal, as its breathtaking scenery, rich cultural legacy, and variety of attractions continue to draw tourists from all over the world. In other areas, Tokyo was identified as the most attractive city, and Australia as the most desirable nation. Sri Lanka is an island that offers a variety of unique visitor experiences. This island boasts a wealth of wildlife, sandy beaches for surfing and sunbathing, English-like weather in the hill country, Kandy’s cultural heritage, commercial cities like Colombo and Dutch fort in Galle, shallow beaches in the Down South, religious sites like Kandy, Kataragama, Anuradhapura, and gem mining in Ratnapura, tea trails in the hill country, ayurvedic spas and treatments in Dambulla, one of the world’s wonders in Sigiriya, and many more must-see locations while visiting Sri Lanka. As late professor Liyanage once stated, it’s compactness in a little island therefore, any attempt to position Sri Lanka based on one of them has a massive opportunity cost. What would be the best approach to addressing this?

Creating Provincial Identities for Sri Lanka?

Whilst holding on to the main destination brand Sri Lanka there will be many provincial identities that can be created for each province to highlight the most benefits that a visitor can benefit from.

The importance of creating a provincial identity can be as follows:

Diverse Experiences: Each province in Sri Lanka offers unique cultural, historical, and natural attractions. Highlighting these distinct features can provide diverse experiences for tourists, encouraging longer stays and repeat visits.

Cultural Preservation: Emphasising provincial identity helps preserve and promote local traditions, crafts, and customs. This not only enriches the tourist experience but also supports cultural heritage conservation.

Economic Benefits: Developing provincial identities can lead to more equitable economic benefits across the country. By attracting tourists to less-visited areas, regional economies can benefit from increased tourism revenue, creating jobs and supporting local businesses.

Sustainable Tourism: Focusing on provincial identities can aid in distributing tourist traffic more evenly across the country, reducing pressure on popular destinations and promoting sustainable tourism practices.

Brand Differentiation: In a competitive global tourism market, a strong provincial identity can differentiate Sri Lanka from other destinations. Unique provincial branding can attract niche markets interested in specific cultural or natural experiences.

Community Engagement: Building a provincial identity involves local communities in tourism development, fostering a sense of pride and ownership. This engagement can lead to better tourism services and authentic experiences for visitors.

Enhanced Marketing: Tailored marketing strategies that highlight provincial identities can effectively target specific tourist segments, improving the overall effectiveness of promotional efforts. Overall, developing provincial identities enriches the tourism landscape, offering varied and authentic experiences while supporting sustainable development and cultural preservation in Sri Lanka.

Possible positioning options for selected regions will be as follows:

The above are a few examples of how Sri Lanka can look at creating provincial identities based on the approach of Single-minded positioning and the most sought-after benefit that is offered in each region. Positioning Anuradhapura for example is in line with India’s strategy of positioning them as the Land of Buddha. As there is an uprise on the meditation benefits and mindfulness, the affluent market looks for destinations where they can avail themselves to similar experiences. Authenticity in experience is the key driver and brand storytelling can take us a long way as we are endowed with a rich heritage and a written history of 2500 years. Sri Lanka also has the world’s oldest and largest pagoda built in ancient times. These are adding more value to the positioning of the region.

What other factors would contribute to the success of the approach?

Infrastructure - Within these defined areas, adequate transportation and other infrastructure should be available. Additionally, travellers’ safety needs to be taken very seriously. If tourists are harassed and discouraged by the excessive actions of residents, we will be utterly failing in our responsibilities as a welcoming nation.

Packaging the offers - When providing tickets to foreigners, packages should be provided to demonstrate the worth of the tickets rather than charging a flat fee, which is typically perceived by foreigners as an excessive amount even though it is just USD 20–30.

Places to get authentic Sri Lankan food – Since there is a trend towards experiencing what is authentic rather than what is supplied, real Sri Lankan food should be promoted nationwide rather than Western and other origin cuisine. Every province has a distinct culinary culture that should be promoted to tourists.

Introduce tourism as a subject in the school curriculum. – Not having enough understating of how the tourists feel, has an impact on the way our people treat them. These values should be instilled in the minds of the pupils at very early stages of their lives so

Introducing arts and crafts to tourists Including arts and crafts for visitors to take home must be a key component of this strategy. There will be crafts and artwork unique to each province that can be advertised to visitors. As we declare Sri Lanka to be the most sought-after island for the first time, we have an obligation to ensure that tourists have an experience of a lifetime that they can share with their loved ones back home. Awareness and associations are crucial for a brand to succeed. However, loyalty is fuelled by the brand’s performance. As a result, the visitors’ safety must be taken into careful mind while determining the moment of truth. A new era in tourism may be ushered in by technological interference in the industry. For it to be properly implanted, a strong body must be built to withstand this change. Please contact me at [email protected] or 00947777 63 717 on Whatsapp. I’m prepared to share my ideas and strategies with anyone who want to use them to help Sri Lanka maintain its position as the Most-Desired Destination.