Sri Lanka plans to officially gazette 20 new tourist zones before November, the head of the country’s tourism regulator said, as the government moves to expand the island’s footprint as a global travel destination on the back of a strong arrivals rebound.
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Chairman Buddhika Hewawasam confirmed that the process to designate the new zones was already underway and would be completed before November, in remarks reported by NewsFirst on Thursday. The new framework is intended to accelerate visitor flows by formally bringing additional locations under tourism-zone status, with the regulatory designation typically used to coordinate infrastructure, hotel approvals and destination marketing.
The push lands amid a steady rebound in arrivals. According to the latest tourism data, Sri Lanka has welcomed 1,076,487 tourists so far this year, with India remaining the leading source market at 272,099 arrivals. The post-conflict recovery has accelerated since the Middle East war eased, after the steep drop in March arrivals gave way to a sharper rebound as Hormuz transit risk receded.
The 20-zone expansion follows the Cabinet’s approval of nine flagship tourism projects under the Presidential Tourism Task Force, which named the Galle–Kankesanthurai ferry, the Southern Mist Corridor and film tourism among priority products. Hewawasam has previously used Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau outreach to assure regional markets that hotel rates and service quality remain stable despite the regional conflict shocks.
The tourism authority has not yet published the list of proposed zones, but the November target sets a hard deadline for the gazette process to conclude before the start of the December–March winter peak season.
Source: Sri Lanka Plans 20 New Tourist Zones as Visitor Numbers Surge — NewsFirst, June 19.
