Sri Lanka’s new tourism advisory committee gets down to work

Mar 14, 2019 (LBO) – With an eye on achieving the targeted 3 million tourist arrivals this year, a newly constituted Tourism Advisory Committee has been appointed by Minister of Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs, John Amaratunga.

The 14 member committee comprises of private sector tourism stakeholders and is headed by business magnate Harry Jayawardena.

The other members of the Tourism Advisory Committee are: Dammika Perera (Hayleys), Merril Fernando (Dilmah), Abbas Esufally (Hemas), Sanjiv Gardiner (Galle Face Hotel Group), Krishan Balendra (John Keells), Shiromal Cooray (Jetwing), Kuok Meng Xiong (Shangri-la), Ashok Pathirage (Softlogic), C.J. Wickremasinghe (Connaissance), Raman Murthy (Taj Hotels), Nalin Jayasundera (Aitken Spence Travels), Vipula Gunatilleka and N. Ranasinghe. The Committee Coordinator is Dinesh Weerakkody while the Convenor is Felix Rodrigo.

The new Advisory Committee met for the first time at the Tourism Ministry recently under the auspices of Minister John Amaratunga.

The Chairman of the four tourism bureau and department heads presented their respective performance reports and forward plans to the Advisory Committee.

Minister Amaratunga stated that arrivals so far this year are on target and Sri Lanka stands to benefit from some big international events that are to be held in the country this year.

Some of them include the IronMan and Raid Amazon events, CITES Global Conference of Parties which will see the participation of nearly 4,000 foreign delegates in May and the Worldwide Bohra community spiritual gathering that will attract around 30,000 followers.

He expressed confidence that with the stabilization of the political environment and security situation, arrivals are likely to pick up much faster in the latter part of the year.

Tourism Advisory Committee Chairman Harry Jayawardena noted that it was a commendable move to bring Wildlife under the Tourism portfolio as the two subjects were inter-connected.

He noted that this was a major strength and many pending issues could now be easily resolved. Jayawardena also cautioned the industry about price undercutting, stating that it is the country that will have to face the repercussions of a price war. He called for unity among the major players and to work towards the greater good of the industry.

John Keells Chairman, Krishan Balendra drew attention to the airport capacity issue which continues to be a major stumbling block to the industry. He pointed out that if 4 million arrivals are to be achieved by 2020 there must be a corresponding increase in airport capacity. Balendra added that a new terminal was no longer an option but an urgent necessity.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka Tourism revealed that its main targets for the next two year were to achieve Rs. 7bn in foreign exchange earnings, provide direct and permanent employment to 600,000 individuals out of whom at least 10 percent would be women, and to increase the per capita spend per tourist from the present US$ 164 to 210 dollars per visitor.

In order to prepare for the anticipated larger numbers Sri Lanka Tourism is to invest in new infrastructure development, expedite resort land alienation, informal sector integration and strengthen Tourist Police and lifesaving presence in all key resort areas. Sri Lanka Tourism will also facilitate loans for development of home stay units, construction of additional rooms in identified locations and also expedite new resort development.

The Tourism Advisory Committee is expected to meet regularly and monitor progress of the proposed development initiatives.

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Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up by 7.0 percent in February 2019

Mar 10, Colombo: Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals rose 7.0 percent in February 2019 compared to the same period last year, the data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) showed.

The month recorded 252,033 tourists arriving in the country compared to the 235,618 arrived in February 2018.

India, United Kingdom, China, France and Germany were Sri Lanka's top five international tourist generating markets in the month of February this year.

India was the largest source of tourist traffic to Sri Lanka with 13% of the total traffic received in February 2019. United Kingdom accounted for 12% of the total traffic; while China, France and Germany accounted for 11%, 7% and 7% respectively.

Arrivals from North America rose 61.7 percent to 16,280 in February and the arrivals from US rose 61.7 percent to 9,678 during the month while arrivals from Canada increased 61.8 percent.

Tourist arrivals from Europe increased by 11.4 percent with the arrival of 135,934 tourists. Most of the tourists came from UK (29,750), followed by France (17,295), Germany (17,268), and Russian Federation (13,008).

Tourist arrivals from Middle East declined by 5.2 percent with the arrival of 3,691 visitors compared to the 3,894 arrived in February 2018.

Tourist arrivals from Asia & Pacific declined by 3.8 percent with 94,058 arriving in the island. Tourist arrivals from India declined by 1.9 percent with 32,286 visitors arriving while arrivals from China fell by 22.0 percent to record 28,039 arrivals.

Arrivals from Australia recorded 54.8 percent increase with 8,810 visitors entering the country in February 2019.

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Addressing the white elephant in Lankan economic development in tourism

In the past, Sri Lanka has focused on increasing the number of tourists coming into the country and showcased the

 increase in tourism without much concentration on the growth of our economy in retrospect. Lonely Planet listed Sri Lanka as the number one tourist destination for 2019 whilst Sri Lanka simultaneously boasted of 2.2 million tourists at the closure of 2018. None of these however focus on the economic growth brought in. To put it simply, there wasn’t much of economic prosperity as a majority of these tourists coming in were backpackers with a weekly spending budget of less than $ 500. The question however lies in why doesn’t Sri Lanka attract tourists with a higher spending power? 

A closer look at the issue

Upon closer inspection and analysis, it was concluded that Sri Lanka does not attract tourists with higher spending power who are willing to spend more than $ 300 per day. This is largely due to our country lacking the proper infrastructure to support this level of tourism and the free availability of ‘affordable’ resources as opposed to having more high-end facilities in the country.

Let’s take a step back and analyse this situation through the eye of a potential tourist. There are currently limited direct flights connecting large countries to Sri Lanka. Any potential visitor must predominantly select between Etihad, Qatar Airways or Emirates when flying to Sri Lanka from North America and Europe, resulting in sometimes lengthy transits before arriving at Bandaranaike International Airport. After a long flight, guests are then succumbed into a six-hour drive should they wish to visit the north of the country or another six-hour drive should they wish to visit the south. The lack of better roadways and alternate methods of travel in Sri Lanka leaves guests only the option of travelling on sub-par roads, adding exhaustion to a tiring journey.

Limited qualifying luxury villas and 5-star accommodations in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka can currently accommodate guests in up to 4,200 five-star hotel rooms with a total staff count of 250,000 to serve these tourists, out of which only 250 rooms belong to luxury boutique villas and hotels that cater to clients on the higher spectrum of spending power.

Room rates in the Cultural Triangle, North, South and Central regions offer half-board accommodation at a rate of $ 90 (Rs. 16,167) per double room. Once taxes are deducted, the hotel is left with Rs. 12,442 from which once Rs. 3,200 is reduced for two breakfast and dinner meals, the hotel is ultimately left with only Rs. 9,242, which doesn’t provide much of a profit margin for a hotel and the industry to sustain profitably, much less allow the hotel to provide a great customer experience through constant innovation.

Looking ahead and getting proper infrastructure in place

To attract tourists with a higher purchasing power, Sri Lanka must not only grow in number of luxury hotels and villas, but also take an initiative to develop our infrastructure. For a tourist to visit the country, they must at times spend lengthy transit hours since we do not have a direct air carrier who flies directly from America and Europe to Sri Lanka. The many hours spent on transit coupled with the many hours spent travelling to various locations around the country from the airport isn’t attractive for potential tourists. 

Even though Sri Lanka’s road infrastructure is yet to reach groundbreaking heights, the Government has taken the right initiative through the Megapolis Ministry that aims on developing roads, railways and the landscape of the city by 2030 with a marina, a cruise centre, a waterfront promenade and housing for an estimate of two million people. 

In addition to roads, railways and the development of the megapolis, Sri Lanka must also look at alternative methods of domestic travel. Currently there are only a few providers offering domestic aircraft carriers, with two of them being large conglomerates in the country. However, these aircraft carriers can only accommodate eight passengers per flight and come at a very high cost making this an unattractive mode of domestic transport, despite the savings in time. 

For tourists looking to visit Sri Lanka and spend a vacation here in luxury, either basking in the misty hills or travelling in the north getting to know about part of our heritage or even enjoy the Southern sea, Sri Lanka’s level of infrastructure and support facilities aren’t attractive enough. Having to travel for six hours to reach the north or south after a tiring plane ride or having to charter an expensive domestic flight with limited travel availability due to their limited flying hours simply isn’t attractive enough to bring in tourists with higher spending power. To bring about economic growth through targeted tourism, it’s time Sri Lanka began developing our urban cities, infrastructure and value added services to attract the right clientele. 

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Sri Lanka will grant free visas to tourists

Sri Lanka will grant free visas to tourists from key markets like the United Kingdom, Europe and Asian Buddhist countries like Thailand for six months from 1 April 2019 to encourage visits during months when arrivals usually slump.

The government information office said in a statement the Cabinet of Ministers had approved the proposal by John Amaratunga, Minister of Tourism Development, Wild Life and Christian Religious Affairs this week.

Free visas will be given to tourists from Thailand, United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, Canada, United States of America, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and countries of the European Union, it said.

The move aims to encourage visits during key Buddhist festivals like Vesak and Poson during this period.

(COLOMBO, February 27, 2019-SB)

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