Sri Lanka serves as the Vice-Chair of the Committee on Tourism and Competitiveness at the 26th General Assembly of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ameer Ajwad served as the Vice-Chair to the 17th Meeting of the Committee on Tourism and Competitiveness during the 26th General Assembly of the UN World Tourism Organization (UN WTO) held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 7-11 November 2025.
Delivering Sri Lanka’s statement at the Committee on Tourism and Competitiveness, Ambassador Ameer Ajwad stated the following: “Sri Lanka’s tourism journey offers valuable insights into the intricate relationship between competitiveness and sustainability. Our island nation has learned that true competitiveness cannot be built on price alone, but must be rooted in the preservation and authentic presentation of our unique assets, our biodiversity, cultural heritage, and the warmth of our people.
Following unprecedented challenges in recent years, Sri Lanka has reimagined competitiveness not as a race to attract maximum numbers, but as a commitment to attracting the right visitors who value and respect our natural and cultural treasures.
We have recognized that our competitive advantage lies in our distinctiveness: being one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, possessing eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites within a compact geography, and offering experiences that range from ancient Buddhist pilgrimage sites to pristine wildlife encounters.
However, competitiveness demands more than exceptional resources, it requires enabling infrastructure, skilled human capital, policy coherence, and stakeholder collaboration. Sri Lanka continues to address connectivity challenges, invest in sustainable tourism training, and foster public private partnerships that ensure tourism benefits reach local communities.
We come to this committee eager to learn from global best practices and to contribute ur experiences in balancing tourism growth with environmental stewardship and community wellbeing. We believe that the key factors of tourism competitiveness this committee identifies must include sustainability metrics, community empowerment indicators, and climate resilience measures, not merely arrival numbers and revenue figures.
Sri Lanka stands ready to collaborate with fellow member states in developing practical policy frameworks that make tourism a force for inclusive economic development, cultural preservation, and environmental protection. Our shared objective must be creating tourism industries that are not just competitive today, but remain viable and valuable for generations to come.”
While the Executive Director of the UN Tourism Zoritsa Urosevic delivered the welcome remarks, other Member of the Committee including Kenya (Chair), Haiti, Lebanon, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Thailand, Uruguay and Zambia participated at the meeting. Director, Market Intelligence, Policies and Competitiveness at the UN Toursm presented on the progress of the Flagship Initiative ’Wotld Tourism Report.’
Embassy of Sri Lanka
Riyadh
17.11.2025
