Wellness Tourism – a boon to Sri Lanka tourism
The Market Development Facility in Australia has agreed to fund the first phase of the Wellness Tourism project in Sri Lanka following the Export Development Board’s (EDB) 5-year Natural Wellness Tourism Initiative launched last year in Colombo.
The European Union’s assistance has also been sought on developing the Wellness Tourism sector in Sri Lanka, said Ms. Jeevani Siriwardena, Director General of the Export Development Board (EDB), at a media briefing held at the Export Development Board (EDB) Colombo this week.
“We are jointly engaged in this project along with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and an advisory committee is implementing its work. Once a rapid assessment initiative is done, its product development, evaluation of its market strategy will be supported by the European Union on its potential to market it in Europe and in the world,” Ms. Siriwardena said.
Meanwhile, Wellness Tourism Project Consultant, Dr. Franz Linser, a renowned wellness tourism development expert from Austria, arrived here on a fact finding mission, to meet stakeholders of the industry. The objective of phase one of this initiative is to provide an analysis of Sri Lanka’s wellness tourism capacity and define its current unique selling proposition. The study will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the existing wellness tourism infrastructure and overall communication. The assessment will provide key recommendations for a short – medium – and long term strategy to maintain and secure new markets to position the country as an attractive destination for wellness tourists. Wellness tourism is a US$4.2 trillion industry globally.
Dr. Linser said that people who live in the industrialized world having overworked, complain about their health regarding body aches and not being able to sleep in the night apart from having a host of problems such as anxiety, losing their jobs, getting over weight etc, that relates to life style related problems.
Dr. Linser has been extolling the virtues of Ayurveda as a rich holistic concept practiced in the East and in the west. He is the Managing Director of Linser Hospitality and a renowned wellness tourism expert involved in many wellness tourism developments projects around the world. He said there are people who feel unwell but not sick as yet and many of them in Europe went to seek treatment at spas that did not cure their ailments due to lack of medical knowledge.
Dr. Linser sees light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to Ayurveda treatment available to Europeans. Ayurveda is a gateway for tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka. “Everybody knows about Ayurveda Sri Lanka and what an asset for a relatively small country like Sri Lanka. When you have an asset you have to build on it worldwide. People want to be closer to nature today and that is what we have found in our studies,” he said.