Abstract:
Tourism is a fast growing industry in Sri Lanka. Since gaining independence from the British in
1948, Sri Lanka has continued to attract foreign investors and tourists to the island. However it
is the post war period that the sector has featured prominently a rapid growth. The arrival of
tourists increased rapidly and passed the elusive one million mark in 2012 and increased further
in 2014 and 2015. Consequently, the tourist earnings also increased and now the sector occupies
the position as the third largest foreign exchange earner to the country after overseas
remittances and textiles and apparel exports. It is expected to increase the number of arrivals up
to 2.6 million by 2020.
