Sri Lanka eyes Europe for more tourists

Sri Lankan government seeks to attract more European tourists and have appointed a senior official as a tourism consultant to focus especially on the European continent, officials said on Thursday.
Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said the country hopes to attract more Europeans who are traditionally identified as good spenders with demand for high standards as several international hotels are now opened in Colombo.
“Today with so many hotels coming up, we need to redouble our efforts to attract more Europeans to our country,” Amaratunga said.
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has witnessed a positive growth in recent years with India and China being the leading sources of tourists. Europeans once formed the bedrock of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
Sri Lanka received over 2 million tourists in 2016 and the government hopes to achieve a target of 4 million tourists per year by 2020.
Amaratunga told media earlier this month that Sri Lanka hopes to attract 2.5 million tourists this year, Xinhua reports.
Latest Headlines in Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka to launch national review on social media’s impact on children January 30, 2026
- Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia move to boost industrial cooperation January 30, 2026
- Johnston Fernando, two sons and others further remanded until February 13, 2026 January 30, 2026
- Sri Lanka raises daily wage of plantation workers to Rs. 1,750 January 30, 2026
- Sri Lanka expands Internal Affairs Units to 250 more state institutions January 30, 2026


That’s great news.
Yesterday, I read somewhere, that the European Union wants us to decriminalise homosexuality as condition precedent to giving us the manna from heaven known as ‘GSP Plus’.
Sure, we can do that and our ‘lehensu’ wearing guys can be servicing the ageing European men and receive fees for services plus the VAT (which will make Ravi Happy).
The other ‘normal’ guys and girls can be servicing the 60-80 year old ‘madame’s’ from Europe. Don’t have to go any longer to the Middle East to make a couple of dollars.
With Minister John Amaratunge, we can be earning greenbacks in our own backyard using the tools in our own bodies !
This is called sex tourism.