Less than a month away from celebrating Sri Lanka’s 75th anniversary of independence and with the country reduced to literally scraping the barrel for its subsistence, there is very little to celebrate as far as the people are concerned, while the current interim administration appears to be desperately in search of ‘positive news’ that will portray it as progressive – especially with the Local Government Polls now on the cards.

For a political establishment that thrives on mediocrity, non-events are routinely portrayed as ‘achievements,’ becoming the laughing stock of the rest of the world. It is in keeping with this scheme of things that quite a din was created last week on Sri Lanka ‘achieving’ 700,000 plus tourist arrivals in 2022 and the Central Bank announcing that its reserves had ‘increased’ by 5% to $ 1.8 billion. 

Needless to say, both claims are hollow at best. It will be recalled that at the beginning of last year, tourism authorities set what seemed like a conservative target of one million tourists for the year, but as the months wore on and the target appeared beyond reach, it kept revising it, ultimately ending up with a paltry 720,000 tourists – less than half of what neighbour the Maldives achieved in the same period (1.6 million) and less than one-third of the tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in 2018. To rub salt into the wounds, industry stakeholders have been quite vocal on the ‘quality’ of the visitors as well, with the majority of them said to be falling into the thrifty ‘budget’ category, offering little or no benefit to the peripheral tourism ecosystem.

Moving on to the Central Bank’s claim of improvement in reserves, it seems to have conveniently forgotten that fuel is still being rationed and that there is an acute shortage of medicines in hospitals due to lack of imports and that even school children are at the beginning of another school year with essential stationery in short supply. If imports are allowed to take place based on actual market requirements for these and other items such as pesticides that are in short supply, that ‘gain’ in reserves will be wiped off in an instant.

Putting a positive spin on what really should be alarming news is nothing new and is in fact the bread-and-butter product of the sycophantic State news agencies. However, after 75 years of being taken for a ride with sunshine stories when the reality has been quite the opposite, people seem wiser now and no longer willing to bite the bait. Nevertheless, in the spirit of continuing what it knows best, the attempts to hoodwink the masses continue, while the international media continues to painstakingly document Sri Lanka’s slide into economic oblivion in real time.

Even as we speak, the world is focusing on the real issues facing Sri Lankan families far more in depth than its own media, which, as of recent times, prefers to hold a mic to a politician or anyone willing to spew political vomit in place of actual substance. For instance, just last Friday (6) a BBC headline story pointed to parents in Sri Lanka being pushed to decide which of their children should be attending school, as sending more than one child to school was no longer an option due to the severe economic constraints they were faced with. 

It is this ground reality vividly portrayed by the international media that tends to influence potential Western tourists on their choice of destination, although such morality is not applicable to non-Western tourists, who of late have formed the bulk of incoming visitors. The discerning, high-spending tourists as well as investors are well aware that nearly all of Sri Lanka’s economic issues are rooted in corruption. The point here is that in this information age, travellers don’t rush to a destination just because its tourism promotion board invites them to visit; they are likely to weigh the pros and cons based on what they see and hear.

It is unfortunate that over the last couple of years Sri Lanka has earned itself a bad name that has not by any means helped its tourism cause. The bottom line is that corruption and impunity have become synonymous with brand Sri Lanka and tourism is a consequential casualty of that unfortunate turn of events. Even though that less-than-desirable image can be improved through the resolve to fight corruption starting from the highest levels of Government, the absence of it, thanks in no small measure to the steadfast unwillingness of the leadership – both past and present – to take the bull by the horns, is taking its toll in more ways than one.

It is fair to say that there has been no inclination whatsoever on the part of the current leadership to at least investigate the corruption cases highlighted by the media, which in turn have had a direct and dire impact on both the country’s economy as well as its image. Despite the sheer scale of the alleged scams, the fact remains that none of the allegations have been investigated and the offenders continue to be at large, plotting and planning their next heist. In fact, even the architects of the country’s bankruptcy appear to be immune from accountability despite both the UN and IMF calling on the administration to investigate what they have collectively described as ‘economic crimes’. Given this pitiful state of affairs, to which both investors and tourists alike are privy, it must naturally beg the question as to why they should contribute to perpetuating the corruption that is dragging this country to its grave. 

Notwithstanding the country’s newly-acquired negative vibe that is directly impacting its tourism prospects, the administration is betting on the wrong horse by continuing to depend solely on tourism for economic recovery. Based on the global macroeconomic outlook for 2023, tourism prospects are anything but promising at this juncture. According to the IMF, a third of the world will go into recession at some point this year and this includes Sri Lanka’s bread-and-butter markets – namely, the three top global economic powerhouses Europe, China, and the US. The IMF has forecast that these three nations will experience a significant drop in GDP growth over the course of the year, negatively impacting the rest of the world, with China projected to experience the phenomenon for the first time in 40 years.

Sri Lanka must also be conscious of the fact that there is already a fierce battle going on in the global marketplace for a share of the tourism pie. The big boys are flexing their monetary muscle and nations like Sri Lanka will be hard-pressed to match the razzmatazz on global platforms.

Another factor that is standing in the way of Sri Lanka growing its tourism numbers is its own counterproductive policy decisions. For instance, just last week Dubai, already a bustling tourism hotspot, decided to remove the 30% tax on alcohol, simply to attract more tourists, notwithstanding its ultraconservative Arab oligarchy. Sri Lanka on the very same day, Monday (2), announced a further 20% increase in excise tax on alcohol products, driving prices sky high and contributing in no small measure to render the destination uncompetitive. The bottom line is that no amount of spin can alter the fact that we are a nation that loves to shoot itself in the foot and then blame everyone else for it.