🇱🇰 Colombo’s Skies Burst with Colour as Kite Festival Returns After Five-Year Hiatus

 

The skies above Colombo lit up with a riot of colour on Sunday as the International Kite Festival returned after five years, marking Sri Lanka’s bid to restore tourism and normalcy.

Zig Diaries Culture
Date: Sunday, 24 August 2025
Time: 13:30 WAT
Location: 📍 Colombo, Sri Lanka

The event is the first major international festival hosted since the country’s economic and political crises, seen as a test of Sri Lanka’s rebranding push.

Kites of every imaginable design—elephants, leopards, pandas, snakes, sunflowers, even Pinocchio—floated over the capital, drawing crowds to the seafront in a vivid display of culture and spectacle.

The festival gathered around 500 local kite flyers and international participants from 25 countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, France, Australia, China, India, Thailand, South Korea, and Singapore.

According to Sri Lanka’s Deputy Tourism Minister, Ruwan Chaminda Ranasinghe, the relaunch was about more than just kites: “Tourism in Sri Lanka has not been very favorable in recent years due to various reasons, such as political instability and the economic crisis. However, I believe Sri Lanka has now fully returned to normal, allowing tourists to come and enjoy.”

The event, organised by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, ran annually from 2015 to 2018 but was paused due to crises. Officials framed its revival as a deliberate step in reintroducing Colombo to the global tourism map.

Fact-Check & Background Context

The Colombo International Kite Festival began in 2015 as part of Sri Lanka’s broader cultural tourism strategy.

Tourism, a key economic driver, collapsed after the 2019 Easter bombings, followed by COVID-19 and the 2022 economic crisis.

Visitor arrivals are now recovering: Sri Lanka welcomed over 2.3 million tourists in 2024, nearly double the previous year, according to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.

Analysts say events like the kite festival serve as soft power branding, signalling stability and cultural richness.

🏷 Tags: Sri Lanka, Colombo, Tourism, Festivals, Kite Festival, Culture, International Events, Travel, South Asia

#ZigDiariesCulture #SriLanka #ColomboKiteFestival #TourismRevival #SouthAsiaCulture