Sri Lanka’s tourism office estimates that a third of available visitor accommodation is now in a category called supplementary establishments, which includes home stays, private villas, apartments, and homes where the whole place or individual rooms are rented. Internet-based platforms like Airbnb.com make it easy for anyone to rent a spare room to tourists. For tourists, informal sector accommodation is often better value for money and offers an authentic local experience.

30%

of available tourist accommodation is in the informal sector (in 2015)

10,702

rooms in the informal sector (supplementary establishments), 100% growth from 2006. Star-classified hotel, unclassified hotel and boutique hotel rooms grew 36% in the same period to 19,376

21%

growth in tourist guest nights in the informal sector in 2015 compared to a year earlier

24%

of tourist nights were spent in the informal sector (supplementary establishments), while 49% stayed at graded hotels and 27% with family