Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that one of the Government’s key objectives is to promote an eco-friendly tourism sector that empowers local communities without harming the environment or cultural heritage, while ensuring that tourism revenue is fairly distributed down to small-scale entrepreneurs in villages. The Prime Minister made these remarks while participating in the occasion of commemoration of World Tourism Day in Western Province.
The National Conference on “Digital Innovation for Sustainable and Culturally Integrated Tourism”, organised jointly by the Western Province Tourism Board and the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology of the University of Kelaniya to mark World Tourism Day 2026, was held on 27 September at the Western Provincial Council Auditorium with the participation of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.
The event was held under the theme “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism.” During the event, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya presented awards and certificates to the schoolchildren who won the digital competition organised by the Western Province Tourism Board for school tourism and travel clubs in conjunction with World Tourism Day. In addition, the Smart Tourism Platform, developed jointly by the Western Province Tourism Board and Sri Lanka Telecom for the community-based sustainable tourism village of Alawala in the Gampaha District, was launched at the conference with the participation of the Prime Minister.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister stated:
Sri Lanka is a country with a unique heritage enriched by centuries of human creativity, wisdom, traditional knowledge and cultural diversity. We must remember that safeguarding this historical heritage while actively contributing to the country’s social and economic development is an essential national responsibility entrusted to all of us.
A key objective of our manifesto, ’A Thriving Nation – A Beautiful Life’, is to strengthen the economy by equipping all sectors of the country with modern technology and genuine reforms. Since 2024, we have taken a significant leap forward in the tourism sector. In 2024, more than two million tourists, or 2.05 million, visited Sri Lanka, generating USD 3.17 billion in revenue for the country. Building on this success, 2,362,521 tourists visited our country in 2025, enabling us to earn USD 3.22 billion in foreign exchange.
The Prime Minister stated that the Government’s target is to attract four million tourists annually and generate USD 8 billion in tourism revenue by 2030.
The Prime Minister further emphasised that, in order to achieve this target, the knowledge held by universities and research institutions must be directly applied to the advancement of the practical tourism sector. She also stated that the public and private sectors, universities and stakeholders in the heritage conservation sector must work together to transform innovations into practical solutions.
The Prime Minister also stated that equipping the younger generation and schoolchildren with knowledge of digital technology, creativity and Sri Lanka’s cultural heritage should form the foundation of a sustainable tourism industry in the future. She noted that greater attention would also be given to the tourism sector through the new education reforms and invited schoolchildren to view tourism as an important career field for the future.
The Prime Minister further emphasised that the Government’s key objective is to build an eco-friendly tourism industry that empowers local communities without causing harm to the environment or cultural heritage, while ensuring that the benefits of tourism revenue are fairly distributed down to small-scale entrepreneurs in villages.
The event was attended by Colombo District Tourism Sub-Committee Chairperson and Member of Parliament Lakmali Hemachandra, Kalutara District Tourism Sub-Committee Chairperson and Member of Parliament Chandima Hettiarachchi, Secretary to the Western Province, Local Government and Tourism Ministry A.S.D. Sadeeka, Chairman of the Western Province Tourism Board Dr. Mahesh Priyadarshana and members of the Tourism Board, scholars in the fields of tourism and archaeology, representatives of the public and private sectors, researchers,
Prime Minister’s Media Division