Restructuring Tourism Industry in the after month of Corona (COVID-19) Pandemic: Sri Lankan Perspective

Abstract

The tourism industry of the Island economy of Sri Lanka started flourishing in late sixties and has continued amidst extreme ups and downs. Specifically the industry has shown strong resilience and resumed after several calamities in the past few decades. The 30 year civil war which experienced hundreds of bomb blasts around the country and airport attack, devastating Tsunami in 2004, Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in 2019 are few examples from which the tourism industry showed quick come back. The novel Corona pandemic has brought all most all economies into a standstill and tourism industry is one of the critically affected sectors since it was initially identified as one of the key contributor in carrying the virus around the globe. Sri Lanka’s first infected case was a Chinese female tourist from whom later found a local tour guide was infected. Equally, the main mobility hubs of tourism industry or international airports were closed as safety measures to control the rapid outbreak of COVID-19 virus.

Keywords: Tourism management, Sri Lanka, Corona pandemic, COVID-19, Tourism Marketing

JEL Classification: M21, M10, M16