Sri Lanka’s brand value to be higher than GDP by end 2015: Tourism Promotion Chief

Jun 01, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s brand finance value would overtake the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) value by the end 2015, a senior official said.

“The value of the Sri Lanka brand as for brand financing is going to be slightly higher than GDP value for the first time in the Islands history,” Rohantha Athukorala, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said.

“Sri Lanka GDP was US 73 billion dollars in 2014 and the value of the brand was US 61 billion dollars,”

“This year it’s (GDP) may go up to US 78 billion dollars and the value of the brand will be 79 billion, that will exceed the GDP.”

So when this happens, Athukorala says, the Indian Ocean Island will attract more quality tourism, investment and have higher export market dimensions.

Research by Brand Finance, a brand valuation and strategy consultancy, reveals that countries with strong brand values are perceived stronger for business and investment and tend to attract better quality tourism.

Data shows that since 2011 on wards the nation brand value of Sri Lanka has picked up from US 23 billion dollars in 2011 to US 31 billion dollars in 2012, US 45 billion dollars in 2013.

On the other hand the GDP value which was US 59 billion dollars in 2011 rose to US 67 billion dollars in 2013.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s tourism earnings grew 29 percent to 1.94 billion US dollars in the 11 months to November 2014 while arrivals grew at a slower 20.3 percent, government data shows.