Sri Lanka through outside eyes

[Aung Zaya]

Well Sri Lanka gets many from around the world. Also Indian market is right next door too.

They have marketed themselves well as a smaller, wealthier, cleaner more organised version of India with overall more "tropical" feel....similar to how Kerala and southern parts of India have also done. Traditional tourism in India is the north Indian golden triangle which is fully cultural based (Delhi, Taj Mahal, Rajasthan)....so there is not a beach and coastline for people to enjoy (they gotta go to goa or the south for that).

So in SL many tourists can enjoy forts, temples, little villages....right next to sandy beaches....so they come from far away....also many do combined circuit of Sri Lanka, Maldives and South India etc. So they pay good money and they often return.

Myanmar needs time to develop more of the upscale infrastructure and also shed the image (civil war, dictatorship) so more people from Europe, North America, richer ppl from China, India, Asia come to visit and spend 2 grand USD or so per visit (or more). I think a really good idea would be for Myanmar to create a partnership with India to create a "Mandalay express" or something like that, that will be a luxury rail-based circuit that visits all the major pagodas, cultural spots and also beaches of the southern peninsula etc....because India has been very successful with "Palace on Wheels" and various other luxury tourist trains (Deccan Odyssey, Maharaja express):

The 5 Most Luxurious Trains in India

Similarly other countries companies can help you develop other sectors (SL for beach resorts, China for city/shopping tourism, Japan for heritage promotion + travel infrastructure) etc.

Also having a good solid domestic network of budget air travel is good to give options to the tourists for travel. But again this may take time since such a thing cannot be done tourist specific (more demand needs to come from Burmese themselves).

I am sure with time, Myanmar will be a big tourist hotspot. Right now its in the growing phase, it is seen as new, exotic and "untouched"....once you hit cruise phase, you will get much more money and arrivals.....but lots of the "new" crowd will have moved on to other places (I think maybe more parts of Africa, India etc at that point). It always works in cycles globally....the trick is to keep the cruise phase going as long as possible....for that you need to sustain interest, keep reinventing new things to do, make sure it does not become over-developed and damaging to environment etc. But Burma doesnt need to worry about that yet...and when it does, it can learn from Thailand right across the border what to do and not to do etc.

yes.. totally agreed with u.. bro.. BTW Lux trains are awsome..!! even we also want to start lux trains like this , we need to do 1st is to upgrade railways..

and ( India - Myanmar - Thailand ) highways will help to boost tourism sector coz tourists from India and Thailand are highly contributed in our numbers.. ( roughly 30% of total )..

Well Sri Lanka gets many from around the world. Also Indian market is right next door too.

They have marketed themselves well as a smaller, wealthier, cleaner more organised version of India with overall more "tropical" feel....similar to how Kerala and southern parts of India have also done. Traditional tourism in India is the north Indian golden triangle which is fully cultural based (Delhi, Taj Mahal, Rajasthan)....so there is not a beach and coastline for people to enjoy (they gotta go to goa or the south for that).

So in SL many tourists can enjoy forts, temples, little villages....right next to sandy beaches....so they come from far away....also many do combined circuit of Sri Lanka, Maldives and South India etc. So they pay good money and they often return.

Myanmar needs time to develop more of the upscale infrastructure and also shed the image (civil war, dictatorship) so more people from Europe, North America, richer ppl from China, India, Asia come to visit and spend 2 grand USD or so per visit (or more). I think a really good idea would be for Myanmar to create a partnership with India to create a "Mandalay express" or something like that, that will be a luxury rail-based circuit that visits all the major pagodas, cultural spots and also beaches of the southern peninsula etc....because India has been very successful with "Palace on Wheels" and various other luxury tourist trains (Deccan Odyssey, Maharaja express):

US $600 a night.

:O high number of backpackers are contributed in our tourists arrival.. this may be one of the main reasons of less income.. eg. there over 5 5stars hotels and many hotels and guest houses in our ancient city Bagan.. but some of those back packer didn't want to pay even for expense of guest house and guide.. instead.. they want to spend his nights at backyard of old temples and even besides the streets just with a mat...

@Gibbs sry bro of so many off topic.. now back to topic..
any carriers which can go direct Yangon to columbo.. ? bro

 

[Gibbs]

high number of backpackers are contributed in our tourists arrival.. this may be one of the main reasons of less income.. eg. there over 5 5stars hotels and many hotels and guest houses in our ancient city Bagan.. but some of those back packer didn't want to pay even for expense of guest house and guide.. instead.. they want to spend his nights at backyard of old temples and even besides the streets just with a mat...

@Gibbs sry bro of so many off topic.. now back to topic..
any carriers which can go direct Yangon to columbo.. ? bro

Not sure mate.. They should start one if not already imo.. Buddhist tourism can be a huge market for both countries.. Atm India attracts the highest number of Sri Lankan tourists for it's Buddhist pilgrim sites, Myanmar in that regard has huge potential, Not just from Lankans but also all the other Buddhist nations

About the back packers, They are a significant potion of the travel market so cant neglect that aspect as well.. Most of these people come back later in life with higher spending capabilities.. I'm sure as the infrastructure grows Myanmar tourism will create it self a niche.. Give it a about five years

 

[Nilgiri]

Not sure mate.. They should start one if not already imo.. Buddhist tourism can be a huge market for both countries.. Atm India attracts the highest number of Sri Lankan tourists for it's Buddhist pilgrim sites, Myanmar in that regard has huge potential, Not just from Lankans but also all the other Buddhist nations

About the back packers, They are a significant potion of the travel market so cant neglect that aspect as well.. Most of these people come back later in life with higher spending capabilities.. I'm sure as the infrastructure grows Myanmar tourism will create it self a niche.. Give it a about five years

Indians also love to visit SL. About 1 in 5 of tourists visiting SL come from India...and its increasing quite fast too.

I think Burma, India and SL should do a joint buddhist circuit promotion. Bagan to Gaya to Anuradhapura...something like that.

 

[Aung Zaya]

Not sure mate.. They should start one if not already imo.. Buddhist tourism can be a huge market for both countries.. Atm India attracts the highest number of Sri Lankan tourists for it's Buddhist pilgrim sites, Myanmar in that regard has huge potential, Not just from Lankans but also all the other Buddhist nations

About the back packers, They are a significant potion of the travel market so cant neglect that aspect as well.. Most of these people come back later in life with higher spending capabilities.. I'm sure as the infrastructure grows Myanmar tourism will create it self a niche.. Give it a about five years

Yeah.. bro.. we have a huge Buddhist population in both countries and it will be a huge market.. but Compare with India , Sri Lanka is not still a well-known place to visit... bro.. Is there any official promotion clip for ur tourism..?

 

[Archie]

My knowledge of Sri Lanka is limited to the likes of Mahela, Sanga, Dilshan , Jayasuriya, and other Cricketers

It would be nice to know what else SL is good for

 

[Nilgiri]

This guy has some good videos of Sri Lanka by motorbike:

 

[Gibbs]

Yeah.. bro.. we have a huge Buddhist population in both countries and it will be a huge market.. but Compare with India , Sri Lanka is not still a well-known place to visit... bro.. Is there any official promotion clip for ur tourism..?

Hmmm.. I really wanted to keep this thread free of commercial advertisements, But will make a one time exception for you .. Mate..

Here goes a couple i could find

 

[Gibbs]

 

[Nilgiri]

 

[Gibbs]

 

[Gibbs]

 

[Gibbs]

 

[Nilgiri]

Great compilation. Loved that first song especially (never heard it before).

How are you doing my friend.

 

[Gibbs]

Great compilation. Loved that first song especially (never heard it before).

How are you doing my friend.

Doing good mate.. Tks.. Trust you're going good as well

 

[nair]

@Gibbs Srilanka is taking a huge share of Kerala tourism......... You know what the other day there was advertisement of a casino from colombo in cochin FM radio...... When i heard the advt i was like