By June Ramli
Perth, Sept 10: Australians visiting Sri Lanka are staying 10 to 14 nights and spending about US$180 per person per day, making Australia one of the country’s highest‑value tourism markets and now its sixth‑largest source of visitors.
On the back of those numbers, Sri Lanka is moving to aggressively grow its share of the Australian outbound market, positioning the island as a safe, experience‑rich alternative to regional favourites such as Bali, Japan and Vietnam.
Speaking at the Sri Lanka Tourism Roadshow & B2B Meetings at Crown Perth on Wednesday, Prof. Ruwan Ranasinghe, Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Tourism, described Australia as a strategic growth priority for the sector.
“Sri Lanka is one of those, you know, happening islands in the region, and Australia is one of the increasingly growing markets for Sri Lanka tourism,” Prof. Ranasinghe said.
He said Australian travellers are proving especially valuable because of their trip length and travel style, with many combining multiple regions and experiences in a single visit.
Prof. Ranasinghe said Sri Lanka’s tourism planners see a strong alignment between what the country offers and what Australians are looking for in longer‑haul Asian holidays.
Australians, he said, are showing growing interest in “our surfing and wellness, and also wildlife, and most importantly our spicy food and hospitable people.”
To convert that interest into higher volumes, the government has launched a sustained marketing effort aimed at the Australian market and the wider Asia‑Pacific region.
“We have launched a digital campaign to promote Sri Lanka, which will run for the next couple of years, and that will also bring the message,” Prof. Ranasinghe told a media conference at Crown Perth.
The long‑term goal is to push Australia into the top tier of source markets for Sri Lanka, building on rising arrivals and strong spending patterns.
“I’m sure with all these initiatives, we can make Australia one of the leading tourism source market for Sri Lanka, for which I think we can give what they expect there in Sri Lanka,” he said.
Addressing persistent concerns among some Australian travellers about security, Prof. Ranasinghe stressed that Sri Lanka’s situation has changed markedly since the end of the civil war.
“Generally Sri Lanka is considered to be one of the peaceful nations in the region, and there was a war, but it was over in 2009,” he said.
He pointed to improvements in international benchmarks since the current government took office two years ago, arguing that global indicators now reflect progress on stability and governance.
For Australian travellers and the local travel trade gathered in Perth, his message was that Sri Lanka is ready to welcome more visitors from Down Under as a safer, higher‑value, experience‑driven destination – and is now investing heavily to make that happen.
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