Tourism Minister urges industry to expand hotel investments beyond Western Province

TOURISM Minister Vijitha Herath called on hotel operators and tourism-related investors to accelerate development outside the Western Province, stressing that Budget 2026 has allocated substantial funds to improve national infrastructure, including highways and domestic airports, to support regional tourism growth.

- By CHARUMINI DE SILVA

Speaking at the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) Annual General Meeting, the Minister noted that Sri Lanka currently has 59,000 hotel rooms, with 3,000 more expected by the end of 2025, including 1,300 new five-star rooms, of which 340 are already operational. However, he emphasised that the distribution of accommodation remains highly imbalanced.

“In the Western Province alone, there are 11,000 rooms concentrated within one square kilometre. But in key destinations such as Anuradhapura, Bandarawela, Badulla, Ampara and Jaffna, the availability of quality accommodation is extremely limited. I urge the industry to make a deliberate effort to address this need,” Herath said.

To facilitate regional expansion, he said the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has released land plots in Kuchchaveli, Trincomalee, Bentota, Kalpitiya and Sigiriya under its land bank initiative.