BY: BOB MOWAT
“One thing is we have been blessed with natural beauty. We have the heritage. We have beautiful beaches and lush tea gardens. And, while Sri Lanka may not have tigers or lions, it does have leopards and many other varieties of animals and birds.”
–U. L. Mohammed Jauhar, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Canada
Sri Lanka wants to welcome more Canadian visitors and its top tourism officials are looking to travel advisors to help them achieve that goal.
In fact, representatives of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board, SriLanka Airlines, hoteliers and others hosted a workshop for Canadian travel advisors during the World of Travel Expo held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre during the final weekend of May. Travel Courier sat down with U.L. Mohammed Jauhar, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Canada, to talk about both what the destination had to offer to Canadian visitors as well as the opportunities for Canadian travel advisors.
Asked why Canadians should visit, Jauhar told TC that: “One thing is we have been blessed with natural beauty. We have the heritage. We have beautiful beaches and lush tea gardens. And, while Sri Lanka may not have tigers or lions, it does have leopards and many other varieties of animals and birds.”
And that’s just a few of the reasons that the small island (just 65,000 square kilometres) is so popular. Culture, food and cuisine, festivals and events, its coral reefs and ocean attractions (like whales), and enchanting animals like elephants are just a few of the items on the long list of reasons to sell Sri Lanka to clients.
Although, at the top of the list is its people. “Sri Lanka is a very peaceful, very stable country and we will welcome everyone. Sri Lankans are known as the People with Smiles and we mean it when we say this,” Jauhar observed.
In fact, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Canada talked about how far that welcome and hospitality extends, relating that during COVID, “many foreigners who couldn’t go back to their own countries were looked after by Sri Lankans without any additional charges – free of charge – and they shared whatever they had – housing, food – they shared – that’s Sri Lankans.”
Clearly, that welcome and hospitality is gaining traction with travellers. Jauhar pointed out that in 2024, Sri Lanka hosted “a little over 2 million tourists [from around the world] and for the first five months of 2025, up to May, it’s over 1 million visitors. So, [in 2025] we are expecting to have over 2.5 million visitors and we’re hoping to up this number.”
Along with tourists, Sri Lanka is also looking for investment in hotels, resorts, infrastructure, explaining: “We are inviting not only tourists, but we’re also inviting those who are willing to invest their money in resorts, infrastructure and so on – the things we need for the hospitality industry – and they can easily take their profit out – and we encourage them to invest – and it’s a win-win situation.”
Jauhar explained that the push for investment is driven by the fact that “at the moment our occupancy rate is about 70%, but with the high number of tourists coming to Sri Lanka, we will need more hotels – so we would need investment and we’re open to this.”
As for Canada, Jauhar admits that “in terms of numbers, I would say that they’re not that big,” continuing “that’s why it’s very important to focus on convincing Canadians to visit Sri Lanka.”
However, he also pointed out that there are many Sri Lankan Canadians who are dual passport holders and if they travel on a Sri Lankan passport, “they don’t get counted as Canadian visitors per se — so numbers are not very big, but there’s a lot of room for growth.”
Pointing to the large Sri Lankan diaspora in Canada, Jauhar said he believes that Canadian agents could look to the diaspora as one opportunity to increase Canada-Sri Lanka visitation.
“They [members of the diaspora] know the country and some of them haven’t been to Sri Lanka in the recent past.”
Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner also told TC that “not only are we encouraging travel agents [to sell Sri Lanka], we also have the facilities for [various groups] to come to Sri Lanka and hold their meetings, conferences and conventions – we can facilitate that.”
He added that: “Sri Lanka is also perfect for weddings – so many foreigners are coming to Sri Lanka and having their weddings there at a fraction of the cost [compared to other destinations].
And, he noted, that’s a trend that’s particularly popular with soon-to-be weds from India.
For Canadians, there’s also lots of connectivity through Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
As for Jauhar’s message to Canadian travel advisors, he told TC: “I think one of the things is that a huge number of Europeans are coming to Sri Lanka and travel agents there [Europe] are benefitting and they’re earning their profits [commissions] from the Sri Lankan travel and hospitality industry – why shouldn’t Canadian travel advisors [do the same].”
