Sri Lanka among top 5 emerging tourist destinations

Sri Lanka among top 5 emerging tourist destinations

2012 Emerging Tourism Countries

Sri Lanka has been listed among the five new emerging travel destinations by the World Travel Market's industry 2012 (WTM) report.

The report, launched in London last week, highlights travel trends, and is referred to by many professionals in the industry in making their strategic plans.

The Tourism Development Authority said the three key factors highlighted for Sri Lanka were re-emerging after the civil war; investing in infrastructure; and beauty of destination.

Other countries are:

• Mexico
• Malaysia
• Indonesia
• Argentina

according to a statement issued by Sri Lanka's Tourism Development Authority on Monday. 
Sri Lanka's tourism sector has been booming since the end of a three-decade war with the Tamil Tigers in 2009.The government has targeted one million tourist arrivals for 2012 and revenue of $1 billion from foreign direct investment.

By 2016, it hopes to reach 2.5 million arrivals despite industry experts warning of massive infrastructure upgrades to meet this target.  The World Travel Market (WTM) is a British event aimed at the global travel industry. 

Thousands of travel industry professionals, government ministers and representatives of the international media, converge on ExCeL London each year in November to attend WTM.