Colombo: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on Monday that it has approved a 100-million-U.S.-dollar loan to support Sri Lanka’s tourism sector through strategic policy reforms and targeted catalytic investments that align with the country’s National Tourism Policy. The project aims to improve sector governance, enhance private-sector participation, increase tourist arrivals and foreign-exchange earnings, and address infrastructure gaps while focusing on product development and high-end destination marketing.

According to Namibia Press Agency, the funding for the Sustainable Tourism Sector Development Program consists of a concessional loan of 70 million dollars and a regular loan of 30 million dollars. The ADB stated that the program will support policy and institutional reforms in various areas of the sector, including governance, asset management, tourism promotion and marketing, skills improvement and digitalization, and sustainable tourism and urban development in two major tourism destinations.

The program is designed to diversify the sector by promoting untapped tourism areas, including marine tourism, opening up new destinations, increasing tourist stay and spending, and creating an enabling environment for increased women’s participation in the sector. Although Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals in 2025 returned to 2018 levels, ADB Country Director for Sri Lanka Takafumi Kadono noted that earnings have remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Kadono emphasized that through appropriate policy and institutional reforms, infrastructure enhancements, and improved sector resilience against internal and external shocks, tourism can become the engine of inclusive economic growth.