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| Saturday, 20 November 2004 |
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Booming future for Lanka's tourism by Chandani Jayatilleke LONDON - Sri Lanka's leisure industry representatives earned a fruitful dividend at the World Travel Market (WTM) held in Excel London last week.
According to the representatives of the leading travel and tourism companies, Sri Lanka received enormous exposure as a 'rediscovered destination' at the WTM this year while there were many new inquiries from top touring companies in the world. As far as the trade meetings were concerned, Sri Lankan Pavilion was one of the few busiest places at the WTM venue. "We are delighted about the exposure we got and the future looks very promising for Sri Lanka," several trade leaders who participated at the WTM told the Daily News. The trade is very optimistic about the country's future tourism and confident that it would remain as one of the top foreign exchnge earning sources. Excerpts from the interviews at the WTM venue.
Managing Director, Confifi Group - Stefan Furkhan said his company has been participating at the WTM since 1985. "This year we came with much hopes as Sri Lanka has experienced two years of peace, thanks to the continuing truce - it is very important for the tourism industry to have a peaceful environment. Earlier when we came here, it was very difficult to convince the tour operators and travel agents about the country's security situation. Basically we had to go after them to get down tourists. But today, this situation has completely changed and tour operators and travel agents, even some top people who did not come to Sri Lanka earlier came this year. We even got bookings for the next winter," he said.
When you look at the British market alone, the people here have rediscovered Sri Lanka as a sought after destination and we have a very good future in Britain, Furkhan said. He added India's Kerala would be the most competitive destination for Sri Lanka. Kerala has similar backgrounds and environments. It is quite similar to our product. Therefore, we need to keep adding value to our product to be ahead of Kerala. And again Bali can be a threat too. Because Bali's product is much attractive, but the prices are low due to their internal problems, he said. Jayantha Panabokke, of Mahaweli Reach Hotel, Kandy said the future looks very promising for Sri Lanka. "There was a lot of new enquiries from a number of new operators.
The majority were from up market operators and we could see a growing interest to the destination,he said adding that 'this year's WTM is definitely much better than last year for Sri Lanka. He observed that there was more awareness on Sri Lanka as a destination where one gets value for money. Anura S. Lokuhetty, Director-General Manager of Galle Face Hotel said the WTM brought exceptionally good response from the British market. "For a hotel like the Galle Face which is known as a heritage hotel and as one of the oldest hotels in Asia, we are confident that we would be able to get more tourists in the future. There are travellers who love to stay in heritage hotels. The Galle Face has not changed its originality. In addition the hotel is going to cater to a niche market, following a seven million dollar refurbishment program," he said.
"Today the operators have realised that Sri Lanka is a peaceful country. One has to take into consideration that the island's tourism industry was very successful until 1982. I can't think of any other country that could offer the traveller so much," he added. Prema Cooray, Secretary General/CEO of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said Sri Lanka is experiencing a shift of tourism - from over dependence to niche market. "Obviously the suppliers have gone into it quite correctly because the demand seems to be coming to the smaller properties. So accentuating our direction is right," he added. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Chairman, Connaissance de Ceylan said the WTM this year, was totally different from the past couple of years. "Because we have gone back to a supplier driven market from a low budget market. Those days it was demand driven. People were asking for reduced prices, but today they are trying to book rooms in advance and get allotments to avoid over bookings. The scenario has changed over the past few years owing to the improved situation in the island," he said. He added that several airlines are behind this success. SriLankan Airlines has increased the number of flights and destinations to woo tourists from around the globe. "However I still feel that the UK market is too dominated by large tour operators who want to sell cheap packages. An operator in the UK had recently advertised an all inclusive package for around 500 sterling pounds. Such offers would create a wrong impression in the mind of genuine travellers. We should not allow this kind of cheap packages," Wickramasinghe added. Gehan Perera, Managing Director, Aitken Spence Travels Ltd said the WTM is very important to them because the UK is a key market. "We are re-positioning our hotels and developing niche products and the UK would remain a major market for us. We work with several niche market operators in the UK and we like to improve that business while maintaining the core business," he said. Referring to the balance between core and niche markets, he said it is important to strike a balance between these two markets. "If we keep on increasing our prices - the way we have been doing for the past two or three years - it can become very unhealthy. We have to strike a balance otherwise the business will shift somewhere else. There has to be a correlation of the quality you provide to the price you charge. Just because you have a limited number of rooms you can't keep on increasing prices. When the quality and price ratio is not favourable they will go away," he said. British market is increasingly interested in choosing vacations in countries where Ayurveda treatment is offered. That's why they prefer to choose Siddhalepa Ayurveda resorts, V. Hettigoda of Siddhalepa Ayurveda Resorts said. "British travellers are increasingly aware of Ayurveda and quality of life. We got a lot of bookings this year. We have opened Ayurveda parlours in Germany, Switzerland, Dubai and Hong Kong as partnership companies," she said. Wasantha Leelananda of Walkers Tours (A subsidiary of John Keells Group) said compared to last year, Sri Lanka has got a major exposure this year. "The number of tourists coming to Sri Lanka from the UK and other European countries has significantly increased. In Europe there are many emerging markets, including Scandinavia, a market we lost some years back. In addition, we have good numbers coming from India and China," he said. The other new aspect is, with these new people, we are also seeing new market segments coming to Sri Lanka,. All these time, Sri Lanka was known as a price driven destination - now we are going into a sought after destination. It augurs very well for the industry and we are very confident that this trend will continue, he added. As far as the WTM considered, there were lots of interest from the travel agents and tour operators, he said. Managing Director of Jetwing Group, Hiran Cooray said compared with the last year's WTM and Sri Lanka's position, there was more interest for Sri Lanka this year. "We have risen from a desperate situation of 'from no buyers to new buyers' which is a positive sign. The operators and agents we met this time include small, but high end tour operators who did not feature Sri Lanka in the past. We are slowly moving out to be a top end market in the UK market," he said. He was thankful that SriLankan Airlines and several other airlines have come forward to support the industry by way of conveniently transporting the travellers. This is a concerted effort by all stakeholders and we are looking forward to reaping the benefits of this success, he added. ###### Sacred Relic Exposition in Sarnath The seventy-third anniversary of the opening of the Mulagandhakuti Vihara constructed in 1931 by the great Buddhist revivalist Sri Lanka's Anagarika Dharmapala and the Katina Puja ceremony will be held on Friday 26, November from 2.30 in the afternoon. The main feature of the celebrations is the exposition of Sacred Relics of the Buddha. The anniversary celebrations will be presided over by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh T. V. Rajeshwar. Sri Lanka High Commissioner Mr. Mangala Moonesinghe will deliver the keynote address on the significance of the occasion and the lofty sasana sevaya of the Anagarika Dharmapala to revive Buddha Sasana in the world in modern times. As a prelude to the Sacred Relic Exposition a Sarvaratrika Paritrana desana will be held from 8 in the night on November 25. The ceremony is sponsored by Ketumati Priyanta of Dambadiva Vandana of Menikhinna Mahanuwara. The procession taking the Sarvagna Dhatu Karanduva on a caparisoned elephant round the Sarnath City will be another feature of the anniversary. The public meeting will also be addressed by Union Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Culture Jaipal Reddy and Minister of Tourism, Rural Engineering Services of the State Government of Uttar Pradesh Mohamed Kaukab Hameed. The ceremonies are organised by the Venerable Dr. Dodamgoda Revata Thera and Venerable K. Siri Sumedha Thera. - Nemsiri |
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