Sri Lanka’s tourism ministry is calling for a more ambitious conference centre project to develop MICE tourism than was envisioned in the last two government budgets, according to the recently released national Tourism Strategic Plan 2017-2020.
“Colombo lacks capacity for events beyond an audience of 1,600. A new centre should be a hi-tech flexible space with seating capacity for 8,000 that can be reformatted for trade shows, indoor sporting events, concerts, performances and consumer shows and have adequate parking,” it is said in the Plan.
It is not clear how the project would be financed, either as a private sector project, a government-funded project or a public-private partnership (PPP). However, the ‘Lead Agencies and Partners’ section for the project envisages the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Megapolis Authority taking a lead.
The new call comes as Colombo hoteliers continue to criticise the country’s low capacity for MICE tourism and the current low yields for hotels from the segment.
MICE travel to Sri Lanka made up just 0.8% of the country’s 2.05m arrivals in 2016, down from a 10-year high of 3% in 2006.
Business travel, classified outside the MICE statistics, fell to 1.8% of total arrivals in Sri Lanka last year, marking a sharp decline from the high water mark of 17.8%, also in 2006.
Sri Lanka lags the likes of Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, Asian countries that are all recording major revenues from MICE travel segments.
Now Sri Lanka’s tourism ministry is hoping to develop the convention centre within four years and says construction could start in 2018.
However, under the 2016 budget, a 7,000-capacity conference hall had been proposed to be built adjacent to the New Town Hall in collaboration with the private sector. The Treasury had proposed to allocate Rs.3 billion to finance the project and give MICE tourism operators a 50% tax holiday. The project has not been followed through.
