China offers more facilities to draw Sri Lankan tourists

China is offering more facilities to draw Sri Lankan tourists, China’s state owned Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.

Chief of Consular Department of Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, Wang Keqi briefed local travel agents on the different visa procedures in order to facilitate more tourists to visit China.

According to statistics available at the Chinese Tourism Academy, over 60,000 Sri Lankans visited China in 2016.

A forum was held in Colombo on Saturday to introduce to Sri Lankan travelers tourism services and attractive destinations in China.

In a forum conducted for Sri Lanka’s leading travel agents, organized jointly by China’s national air carrier Air China and the Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka, Air China said it hoped to provide better services for its travelers between Colombo and Chinese cities in order to increase the number of Sri Lankan tourists.

Some of these facilities include enhanced leg space in all its air buses, more localized Sri Lankan meals and luxurious facilities for its business class travelers.

Emily Liu, General Manager of Air China, Colombo Office, addressing the forum said that since Air China entered the Sri Lankan market three years ago, traffic between Colombo and Chinese cities had increased due to the airline’s promotions and services.

However she said many parts of China still remained unexplored for Sri Lankan tourists and they hoped to increase the numbers.

“We hope to introduce Sri Lankan travel agents to other destinations other than Beijing and Shanghai so that they can promote it among Sri Lankan tourists.

China is today one of the largest economies in the world, which has a rich heritage and a history dating back to many centuries. With its modernized culture in recent years, it has a lot to offer for Sri Lankan tourists and traders,” Liu said. (Colombo Gazette)

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Targeting more Indian tourist footfalls

Sri Lanka is aiming for a tourism revenue of $4 billion this year, which would be a record high for the sector. To achieve that, the island’s tourism department will chiefly target visitors from India, from where it gets the highest number of visitors. Authorities point to an uptick in young travellers from India coming to Sri Lanka on weekend trips. They arrive on Friday night and return on Sunday, often squeezing in a quick drive to beach towns such as Galle and Bentota along the southern coast.

With the hope of getting Indian tourists to prolong their stay, and to draw more tourists from other key markets such as China, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Authority is looking to popularise new attractions. According to its chairman Kavan Ratnayaka, these places will also be an alternative to the currently popular destinations that often get overcrowded — especially Yala National Park in the south and the ancient rock fortress of Sigiriya in the Central Province. “We are exploring if the ancient town of Polonnaruwa can be presented as an alternative to Sigiriya, and other national parks like Minneriya and Kaudulla as alternatives to Yala,” he told The Hindu. 

Additionally, tourism authorities are giving shape to the ‘Ramayana trail’, which will consist of sites that many believe have links to the epic. While private tour operators already offer packages to some of these sites, the Tourism Development Authority is yet to formalise the trail. New Delhi, especially after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government took over in 2014, has been reportedly keen on the initiative. Simultaneously, within Sri Lanka, there is a resurgent interest in Ravana that offers potential for developing associated sites, officials said.

Making Colombo more happening

 

The trail is only one of the many attractions on the scenic island, where the beaches, hills and historic sites compete for attention. Many Indians are also patrons of the 24-hour casinos in Colombo. In fact, some of them travel frequently, often in groups, and spend the weekend chasing fortunes. The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority is also focussing on “making Colombo more happening” with greater retail and entertainment options, authorities said. While its outreach is global, there is a special focus on India — for its proximity and traditional business links — through a targeted campaign online. 

Since the end of the civil war in 2009, Sri Lanka has been witnessing a steady increase in tourist arrivals, but there has been a considerable surge in the last couple of years. From 4.47 lakh in 2009, the number of tourists increased to 10 lakh in 2012. By 2016, the figure had doubled to 20 lakh, according to official data. This year, until May, over 10 lakh tourists visited the island. Of those, about 1.7 lakh visitors, almost a fifth of the total arrivals, were from India. China came second in terms of the number of tourists, with 1.16 lakh arrivals. 

Tourism is, at present, Sri Lanka’s third-biggest source of foreign exchange, after tea and textiles. Authorities want to push it to the top slot. Keeping this objective in mind, they have strengthened security measures. Earlier this year, following a series of incidents involving sexual abuse and violence targeting foreign tourists, authorities said they would set up police posts and patrols at popular resorts. “We have zero tolerance to any threat to the safety of tourists. Sri Lanka should be absolutely safe for the solo woman traveller. That is the standard we are working towards,” said Mr. Ratnayaka. 

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Sri Lanka tourism industry in drive to fill 100,000 worker shortfall

ECONOMYNEXT- Sri Lanka’s leisure industry says it will carry out a five year program to boost the output of skilled trainees and make the sector attractive to school leavers and females as a worker shortfall worsens amid a tourism boom. 

Sri Lanka Tourism and Hospitality Workforce Competitiveness Roadmap 2018-2023, devised by a skills development committee made up of key leisure sector companies said there is an annual shortfall of up to 20,000 workers. 

“[W]e need more and better trained people entering the industry,” Malik Fernando, from Sri Lanka’s Dilmah group, who chairs the Private Sector Tourism Skills Committee, which devised the 5-year plan. 

“We need 100,000. The Tourist Board thinks it’s closer to 90,000, but that doesn’t include the informal sector.” 

According to the roadmap, only 10,000 trainees come out of hotel schools in the country annually.

But about 25,000 to 30,000 are needed each year to staff new hotels and related businesses and also to fill positions falling vacant as older workers retire and others migrate to greener pastures.

Sri Lanka has a falling rupee, making foreign jobs in countries with sounder central banks which provide stronger currencies such as the Maldives and the Middle East, more attractive. 

“We cannot standby and watch anymore. Our complacency will kill the industry,” Fernando said.

“We hope others will join us, but we don’t intend to wait.” 

The skills committee which includes tourism player like Jetwing, John Keells, Dilmah, and Shangri-La is backed by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), the Ceylon Hotel School, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the Technical and Vocational Education Commission and the US Agency for International Development. 

Sri Lanka’s tourism sector is growing rapidly, with the tourism authority estimating that 20,720 rooms will be added to Sri Lanka’s inventory by 2020. 

By end 2017, 35,986 rooms were officially registered with the tourism authority in graded hotels and supplementary units such as guest houses. There are also hundreds of unregistered hotels and guest houses 

A quarter of the tourists visiting the country stayed at unregistered properties, the SLTDA said.

The 5-year plan developed by the skills committee, will revamp curricula in hotel schools and start more three and six month courses to churn out workers faster. 

Additional modules can then be taken while working creating an environment of flexible carreer development and training. 

A train-the-trainers programme on the new curricula will train 200 instructors in vocational training institutes. 

A 4-6 week internship program will be introduced. 

Fernando said that the plan will also increase training on niche areas such as naturalists and wellness professionals, who are increasingly in demand. 

Secondary school teachers will also be trained to provide tourism and hospitality training in such schools under the roadmap. 

Fernando says some young people are not joining the industry due to negative perceptions and some parents oppose female children in particular from joining the industry, which will be adressed by increasing awareness. 

“We want to reach out to the youth, parents and the community,” he said. 

There is also a potential pool of workers in the military who may want to leave and join the hospitality industry, officials said. 

A research unit will also be set up to get up to date information on local and international trends to help better decision-making.

“A lot of our statistics are guesstimates and many of them are plain wrong,” Fernando said. “The data is simply not available and speculative.” (Colombo/July02/2018) 

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Sri Lanka court halts tourism development on Eastern islet

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal has halted the construction of tourist facilities on a small islet in the east coast after an environmental organization protested that it was done without required environmental clearances. 

The CA issued a stay order on the construction activities by a state agency Sallitivu Islet in Batticaloa until the hearing is concluded. 

The Environmental Foundation Ltd, had gone to court saying the District Secretariat started a projet to build accommodation and tourist facilities in the islet without a license from the Department of Coast Conservation and an environmental impact assesment. 

The EFL in it pleadings filed by counsel Viran Corea, Sarita de Fonseka and Subashini Samaraarchchi, Sarita said the islet had 50 native species of plants, including one national endangered, two nationally vulnerable and four near threatened species according to its ecological profile. 

It also had a mudflat used by migrant bird species. 

EFL pleased that it had been informed that a decision was taken to go ahead without a license because, due to time taken to get it, the funding period will be exceeded. 

The islet was only 275 meters long and 155 meters wide and was seasonally connected to the mainland through a sand bar. 

EFL said tourism was a 'non-conumptive' use of the islet, but it had to be regulated and used in a sustainable manner. 

EFL said it had found construction in progress, with tyre tracks and some vegetation cleared, and plastic refuse scattered about. (Colombo/July05/2018) 

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Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals grow 15.3 pct up to June

COLOMBO, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka has recorded a growth of 15.3 percent in tourist arrivals during the first half of 2018 compared to the same period last year, statistics from the Tourism Ministry showed here Wednesday. 

From January to June, 1,164,647 tourists arrived in Sri Lanka compared to the 1,010,444 tourists who visited the country during the same period last year. 

In June, 146,828 tourists arrived in the island country, 19 percent increase from the arrivals recorded in June 2017. 

India remained the largest market for Sri Lanka in June, followed by China and Britain.

Tourism Minister John Amaratunga told Xinhua that tourism was one of the highest growing sectors in the island. 

"We can reach our target this year. We need to expand the capacity of our airports. Currently, 98 percent of tourists arrive by air," he said. 

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ADB, China leads Sri Lanka foreign financing in early 2018

ECONOMYNEXT – The Asian Development Bank and China were the biggest lenders to Sri Lanka's in the first four months of 2018 followed by Japan, while China also made most of the new commitments, official data shows. 

Out of 512.12 million dollars of bilateral and multilateral financing used in public investment in the first four months of the year, ADB disbursed 228.85 million dollars in loans and 0.74 million in grants. 

China disbursed 90.83 million dollars, Japan 54.9 million dollars and the World Bank 48.83 million dollars. 

China also pledged most of the new project loans, comitting 79.8 million dollars out of a total of 266.2 million US dollars where 10 new agreements were signed. 

After the reporting period, China Development Bank also won a bid to syndicate a billion dollar loan to Sri Lasnka. 

The Asian Development Bank committed 75 millon US dollars followed by India with 45.3 million dollars. 

A total of 219.2 million dollars were pledged as and 46.9 million as grants and technical assistance in the first four month of 2018.

Others who committed new loans were were Australia (25.0 million dollars), USA (17.9 million), Austria (13.0 million), International Fund for Agricultural Development (6.2 million), United Nations Population Fund (4.0 million) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (0.01 million).

Of the commitments made the highest amount was committed for the railway sector with 79.8 million. 

The small and medium enterprises sector received the second highest commitment of 75.0 million.

Separately Sri Lanka also raised 2.5 billion US dollars thorugh international sovereign bonds. 

Sri Lanka is now raising foreign loans mostly to repay maturing older loans, as part of a debt re-structuring effort. In the first four months, Sri Lanka had settled 715.6 million US dollars out of which 325.4 million dollars was interest. (COLOMBO, July 02, 2018)

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Sri Lanka private sector to facilitate skills supply in tourism sector with launch of TSC

Jul 02, 2018 (LBO) – The Private Sector Tourism Skills Committee (TSC) launched Tourism Workforce Competitiveness Road-map in collaboration with the private tourism industry to take on the challenge of demonstrating to Sri Lanka’s young women and men that a career in the fast-growing tourism and hospitality industry can be safe, stimulating, well-compensated and full of opportunities for growth. 

“Please don’t call it a strategy. We have too many of those and no one ever seems to act on them,” Malik Fernando, chairman, TSC and managing director of Dilmah Tea’s leisure arm Resplendent Ceylon said. 

“This road-map is a call to action. We hope others will join us, but we don’t intend to wait.”

Formulated under special request from TVEC and the Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training to urgently respond to the critical workforce challenges and skills supply in tourism, TSC also plans to ensure that the courses available in training institutes are practical, aligned with market needs, and taught according to global best practices. 

PTSC was formulated under special request from TVEC and the Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training to urgently respond to the critical workforce challenges and skills supply in tourism. 

TSC is explicitly private sector-led and voluntary. 

It has already prioritized a list of entry-level courses they intend to update with the assistance of TVEC and SLITHM, as well as new courses Sri Lanka needs to introduce to keep pace with global trends. 

Speaking at the launch, USAID’s Mission Director to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Reed Aeschliman said, “This road-map demonstrates the kind of vision, leadership, and cooperation from the private sector that is needed to ensure Sri Lanka gets the most from its incredibly talented young women and men.” 

The road-map was facilitated by renowned team of international experts including James MacGregor and Srilal Miththapala and brought together by some of the leading minds in the industry; Malik Fernando, Angeline Ondaatjie, Shiromal Cooray, Jayantissa Kehelpannala, Sanath Ukwatte, Chamin Wickramasinghe, Dileep Mudadeniya, Timothy Wright , Steven Bradie-Miles, Preshan Dissanayake, Buddhika Hewawasam, Kavan Ratnayake, Manjula Vidanapathirana, Chandra Vithanage. 

Hiran Cooray, Prema Cooray, and Abbas Esufally acted as senior advisors to PTSC. 

One theme in TSC’s roadmap is to encourage more women to enter the industry. 

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