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For many years Sri Lanka's travel trade has struggled under the most trying circumstances. Car bombs in the city of Colombo, suicide attacks on the World Trade Centre and body parts littering the streets did not make for pretty tourist brochures. This land of Serendipity, which in theory should have been marketable as one of the best destinations in the region, was instead known for the ever-present danger of the random violence of war.

Despite these adverse circumstances some tourists did come to Sri Lanka. In the past few years, we have averaged about 350,000 visitors per year, many of them repeat travellers. The fact that they came at all is a testament to the excellence of our hospitality industry's professionalism and its tenacity to function even at the worst of times. We must also note here that the government and the banks have cooperated in granting the travel trade the necessary facilities in finance to tide over the bad times.

But now that era ought to be behind us. In the past few weeks Sri Lanka has hosted the Asian Athletic Championship, the ICC Champions Trophy and the Miss Tourism International event. Soon Australia and Pakistan will play a Cricket Test here, all evidence that organisers of world events have found our facilities perfect to stage their competitions in Sri Lanka.

Tourists and major events mean instant money for many people, from the tour operators and the big-time hotels to the hawkers and vendors on the street. Therefore the cash generated by an increase in tourist arrivals goes directly into the pockets of our people, giving them tangible results speedily.

Other countries in the region have in recent times, launched very successful promotional programs for their countries that have resulted in steep growth in their arrival numbers. The two best examples are Thailand and Malaysia. Both countries attract large numbers of tourists. Malaysia for instance has eleven million tourists per year, providing attractions that are very similar to ours. Thailand also boasts similar numbers.

The secret of their success has been joint promotional projects carried out by all branches of the travel trade.

In Malaysia and Thailand, federal governments, regional administrations and the private sector together with the airlines pooled their resources to plan and fund a single promotional program. Using combined resources they were able to advertise the country as one product worldwide, targeting special markets, which were most likely to send tourists to their countries. Malaysia also persuaded most of its shops and supermarkets to offer special discounts on goods during a specified promotional period, undercutting other shopping destinations in the region.

During the ICC Championship it was gratifying to note that several agencies in Sri Lanka too were combining to push the country's image to a foreign audience. The ability to get sights and sounds of Sri Lanka to the Cricket fans watching the games around the world was a good one and deserves commendation. However for some reason it appeared that Sri Lanka was unable to sell itself as the host of the tournament. This was therefore a missed opportunity in that regard.

Clearly more needs to be done. Surely we in Sri Lanka have the creative depth to produce an advertising campaign that could market our lovely island and our tradition of hospitality.

Our private sector and the state must come together to plan out a carefully thought out strategy, emphasising our strengths to sell Sri Lanka abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should also make it a priority to join this campaign.

All this will require leadership and vision. Now we have an important historic moment to capture the imagination of the world. Let's seize upon it without pulling in different directions and make the most of peace.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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