Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts has introduced UPI payments across its portfolio in Sri Lanka and Maldives, allowing Indian travellers to pay using their existing UPI apps while travelling in these destination. The move is aimed at reducing friction for Indian guests by eliminating the need for currency exchange, cash handling or international card usage, and aligns with the chain’s broader focus on guest centric travel design.
India remains Sri Lanka’s largest inbound tourism market, with demand spanning leisure travel, destination weddings and MICE. Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts operates 17 properties across Sri Lanka and the Maldives, including city hotels, beach resorts, cultural stays and wildlife lodges, and has increasingly aligned its offerings with Indian traveller behaviour, including travel duration, family led trips and digital first expectations.
The introduction of UPI reflects a shift in how destinations are adapting to India’s outbound travel growth, where payment convenience is becoming a factor in destination and hotel choice. For Indian travellers, UPI is already the dominant mode of everyday payment, and its availability at a destination removes a common point of friction in international travel.
Hishan Singhawansa, CEO of Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, addressed this shift at Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) 2026, where he spoke on the panel “Beyond the Usual: Mapping Where Indian Travellers Will Go Next.” He said Indian travellers are increasingly prioritising ease and familiarity alongside experience. Introducing UPI across Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts’ portfolio, he noted, is a practical response to how Indian travellers already live and spend, rather than a standalone technology initiative.
Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts’ India focused strategy is also anchored by Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams Sri Lanka, a large-scale integrated resort combining hotels, gaming, dining, retail and convention space. The property has already seen promising traction from Indian travellers and MICE groups, and is positioned to support growth in Indian MICE travel, destination weddings and city stays that reposition Colombo as a leisure and events destination rather than a transit stop.
As Indian outbound travel volumes rise, Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts is positioning Sri Lanka as a destination that combines proximity, experience diversity and digital convenience, with payment infrastructure now forming part of the overall travel experience rather than a back-end function.
