Summarize part 1 and 2 ( Part 1 - DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO SRI LANKA/ Part 2 -
Question:
- Summarize part 1 and 2 (Part 1 - DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO SRI LANKA/ Part 2 - TOURISM)
Part 1 - DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO SRI LANKA
China has provided development assistance to post independence Sri Lanka to support various development needs of the country (Jayasundara, 2017). Development assistance from China has come in three major forms, namely: loans, grants and interest free loans (Department of External Resources of Sri Lanka,2016). (Loans are made out by the state owned enterprises such as the EXIM Bank, the China Development Bank (CDC) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). Grants and interest free loans are provided directly by the Government of China through the Ministry of Commerce of China.
More recently, China has emerged as the largest provider of bilateral development assistance, overtaking Japan in 2010. Till 2010, Japan was the single largest bilateral lending partner of Sri Lanka(Jayasundara, 2017); the position has since then been taken over by China. Total commitment made from China for the last five-year period from 2012 to 2016 was USD 4,217.7 million (ERD, 2016). In 2016, highest commitment by a bilateral donor was China, followed by France and Japan (Figure 5). Annual disbursement by China amounted to over US$400 since 2012(Jayasundara, 2017). Out of the total disbursement recorded from bilateral development partners during the year 2016, the major portion of the fund was disbursed by China (USD 440.8 million), followed by Japan and India, which contributed USD 74.4 million and 44.1 million, respectively. A number of projects have been financed by China through loans for power generation, irrigation and water supply, port, airport, railways, expressways and highways (Jayasundara, 2017). A major portion of financial assistance provided by China consists of grant assistance. China has also become the leading contributor
of grants in the year 2016 with 33 percent of the total grants received being from China, followed by European Community and Japan by recording 18 percent and 15 percent, respectively (Figure 5). The assistance from China mainly focus on
the non-revenue generating projects such as public sector services (i.e. health sector and also other projects that are of historical importance to the relationship between the two countries such as Bandaranaike Memorial International Convention Hall [BMICH], Nelum Pokuna National Performing Arts Theatre and Superior Courts Complex). However, as a result of the substantial financial assistance provided for the implementation of various development projects, 9 percent of Sri Lanka’s outstanding debt is to China as of 2016 (Department of External Resources of Sri Lanka, 2016).
Part 2 - TOURISM
Sri Lanka has become an emerging tourist destination among Chinese travellers and the Government of Sri Lanka hopes to attract at least 1 million Chinese tourists per year by 2020. Over the recent years, India has been the leading source market for tourism to Sri Lanka. Currently, China remains the second largest source market for tourism with the rapid increase of Chinese tourists since the year 2009. In 2016, there were 271,577 tourist arrivals from China, accounting for 13 percent of total tourist arrivals to the country compared to 17,013 arrivals from China five years back(Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority,2016)
A majority of the Chinese tourists (90 percent) came for vacation, followed by visiting friends and family, business and MICE. On average Chinese tourist spends 9.5 days in the country; the average figure for tourists from Asia is 8.8 days which
is lower than the figures for North America and Western Europe. This increase in Chinese tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka has been facilitated by more air connectivity between Colombo and opening up of a number of destinations in China, operated by airlines of both countries.
The growth rate of tourist arrivals shows the growing significance of China as
a tourism partner of Sri Lanka. Chinese tourist arrivals grew by 72.5 percent in
2010-2016, while Indian and UK tourist arrivals increased by only 19.3 percent
and 10.3 percent, respectively. However, Sri Lanka is not a top travel destination
for Chinese tourist when compared to other countries. South East Asia, Japan and
South Korea are the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists. Thus, there
remains ample room for Sri Lanka to take steps to increase tourism from China.
However, this should be matched by addressing challenges within the industry
such as poor coordination among stakeholders, inadequate industry research,
ineffective planning, inadequate human resource and infrastructure development,
price competitiveness (Propelling Tourism in Sri Lanka,2017).
As Sri Lanka- China ties continue to improve through the BRI initiative, tourism between the two countries has potential to further improve. With increased connectivity through BRI development in ports, airport and road networks along with the development in hotels and Colombo, the Sri Lankan tourism industry stands
to significantly benefit.
International Business
ISBN: 9781292274157
8th Edition
Authors: Simon Collinson, Rajneesh Narula, Alan M. Rugman