Malraj completes PhD in Economics on ‘Determinants of Tourism FDI’

Malraj B. Kiriella, a multi-disciplinary professional, was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Economics degree by the Colombo University.

Earlier, he completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics at the same university and his LL.B at the Open University of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Kiriella is an Attorney-at-Law with professional qualifications in management, marketing, international relations, research, and tourism from leading Sri Lankan and international institutions. He has held senior positions in many professional organizations over a period of time.

He is an old boy of Ferguson High School (Primary) Boys Section in Ratnapura, D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo and S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavina. He has worked in the public and private sectors and served as Director-General of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority from 2015 to 2018.

The aim of his PhD research was to identify the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to tourism sector in Sri Lanka since the post-war period, the development of tourism as a key economic driver, targeting high tourist inflows and revenue to the country.

In order to cater to more tourists and achieve the aims, the country needed additional tourist services and facilities. FDI has been identified to fill the investment gap as domestic investment is inadequate. In addition, tourism FDI brings advantages to the country such as brand image, marketing and promotion, training, new technologies, centralized reservation and sales, etc.

There have been very few large international investments in tourist hotel projects. In addition to the accommodation sector, the absence of FDI is demanded in a number of tourism sub-sectors namely, restaurants, transport, training, recreation and entertainment etc. FDI inflows to Sri Lanka increased after the war, but remained relatively low and below the targeted level. The research, therefore, examined the determinants of both demand and supply factors affecting the inflow of FDI to the country’s tourism sector.