The Sri Lankan
Export Development Board (EDB) established the export value of Sri Lankan
Ayurveda services back in 2013. It facilitated a report on the Sri Lankan
Health Tourism industry by the International Trade Center (ITC). Several
well-known global resorts of Sri Lankan Ayurveda participated in this
exhibition to increase the general public's awareness and appreciated the
opportunity given to them to showcase their skills. Besides, through the EDB
website, EDB created a separate webpage for the health sector by providing
industry information and including the service offerings and contacts of
leading Ayurveda service providers to promote the industry through
international buyers and medical and wellness travel businesses.
These
initiatives led the EDB to recognise this health sector as an important export
sector, and in 2017 the industry was selected as the National Export Strategy
(NES) main focus area. The Wellness Tourism Strategy was established as part of
Sri Lanka's NES, outlining the three main objectives along with growth and
promotional activities in partnership with stakeholders in the Ayurveda,
Western Medicine, and Tourism field. The first goal focuses on teamwork and
stability within the business. Both the conventional segments of wellness and
Western Medicine involve clusters to coordinate and enhance stakeholder
cooperation.
The second goal
is to control and ensure consistency by standardising, authorising practices,
and identifying ancestral healing in target markets, and streamlining
institutional procedures. The third goal is to gather more knowledge about the
sector by collecting data more efficiently and transmitting business
information more, both to the local community and to consumers in target
markets. As the apex body for the production and promotion of exports, the EDB
formed an Industry Expert Committee that included stakeholders from the
Ayurveda Department, the Ayurveda Service Export Sector, and the Western
Medical Sector.
The EDB
developed the brochure 'Sri Lankan Ayurveda' as the committee pressed for the
need for collateral to promote the field. This brochure has designed to promote
Sri Lankan Ayurveda's preventive and curative therapies and promote health
deals in Sri Lanka for non-communicable diseases prevalent in the Western
world. The EDB circulated the brochure in the main target markets via missions
to Sri Lanka.
The EDB invited
the US Medical Travel Quality Alliance (MTQUA) to hold a seminar on quality
standards for the health and medical tourism industry in 2016. The aim was to
raise awareness of the importance of standards and provide medical travellers
with an assurance of the quality of the service they receive from Sri Lanka. The
Wellness Tourism model offers a wider variety of specialised health and medical
facilities inherited from Sri Lanka. There is no question, however, that the
Ayurveda and Indigenous Medicine sector remains a significant contributor to
this wellness tourism industry, led by a Western medical service and other
alternative medicine.
OSL Take: Apart
from the promotion of Sri Lanka's ancient form of medicine – Ayurveda, as a
health product, it could also be used as a successful brand for tourism
promotions as well. While promoting Sri Lanka as a wellness tourist
destination, special attention paid to the advancement of Sri Lanka as an 'Ayurveda
wellness destination’. Sri Lanka's travel sector is on a development path, and
promoting new aspects of the country and its culture could help boost Sri Lanka's
tourism sector. All these are indicative of the growing business/investment
opportunities in Sri Lanka's tourism sector.
VBS/AT/12/10/2020/Z_TB11
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