Revival of Tourism in Sri Lanka following the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

Tourism, the fourth largest contributor of Sri Lanka's foreign exchange was soon brought to halt with the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. An estimated damage of US$ 250 million to tourist assets and a loss of over 27,000 livelihoods almost ruined the tourist industry of Sri Lanka.

An imperative revival process was executed in two phases: immediate relief phase and rapid recovery phase. Immediate relief phase included provision of reassuring measures for tourist victims and notifying the mass media with up to minute tourism situation. The rapid recovery phase was incorporated with a short term recovery process and long term rehabilitation and reconstruction process aimed at recapturing tourist interest, and reestablishing the affected tourist communities and the tourist infrastructure respectively. The lack of a priori disaster management framework and the prevailing security condition of the country impeded the tsunami revival process.

This paper documents the impact of the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on tourism in Sri Lanka and a detailed overview of the recovery strategies adopted in the aftermath of the disaster. Furthermore, it assesses the challenges and way forwards providing guidance to formulate a comprehensive disaster management framework for the tourism sector through the influence of the recovery process.