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| Wednesday, 24 November 2004 |
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Building on Lankan tourism's successes by Chandani Jayatilleke
While Sri Lanka's tourism industry is set to reach new heights with an increased number of tourists choosing to visit the island this Winter, the industry laments that lack of human resources development and infrastructure facilities could interrupt its future growth. Although the core business and the specialised areas in tourism are improving and the number of arrivals is significantly increasing, the industry may face a major hiccup if the country does not take immediate measures to improve infrastructure facilities and train the required human capital at the earliest, the industry representatives said.
Talking to the Daily News soon after the conclusion of the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, a cross-section of the industry representatives said the Hotel School which is the premier and recognised body to train human resources in the leisure sector is in a chaotic situation at present. "This is a major concern of the industry right now. We need to get the right people to manage the hotel school and bring it back to its past glory as soon as possible," they said.
The country has lost the best of tourism for nearly two decades and the industry has just begun to make a fruitful dividend following the truce between the Government and the rebels. Apparently, this financial year is heading to be the best ever for the industry in terms of earnings and profits. Almost all tourism companies have reportedly earned substantial profits in the current financial year.
At the same time, the industry is significantly investing 100 billion dollars to develop various hotel projects and properties. However, the industry leaders said that their effort alone cannot bring the honour back to the trade, unless the Government takes immediate action to rectify matters pertaining to infrastructure development and human resource training.
"As far as the improvements are concerned, we certainly need to address the issue of infrastructure in the tourism industry. Our roads are in pathetic situation. It takes a long time to get out of the airport," Managing Director, Serendib Group Srilal Miththapala said. "Airport development project should be accelerated and there should also be programs to improve road and power sectors if we are to cater to this new boom of the tourism sector, he said.
Managing Director, Confifi Group, Stefan Furkhan said the country missed nearly 20 years of 'good tourism' though we have managed to get down reasonable numbers of tourists over the years. "There were many ups and downs in the tourism sector due to various political and security seasons in the past. Now the country is in a better position to promote tourism owing to the prevailing peace situation. Now it's time we leapfrog to the future," he said. Having said that Furkhan emphasised that training and developing human talent is very much needed at this time. Jayantha Panabokke of Mahaweli Reach Hotel is of the view that lack of infrastructure facilities could slow down the progress. "If we want to improve and sustain the destination in the upmarket segment, one of the fundamental aspects is the infrastructure. We need to put a lot of emphasis in this sector," he added. Wasantha Leelananda of Walkers Tours (a subsidiary of the John Keells Group) said as the demand grows, the country should be able to provide quality holidays to the visitors. "Quality is a prime need in the industry. To provide quality holidays, we need quality people in the industry who can live up to the expectations of the visitors. At the same time, we need to improve our infrastructure such as roads, power and properties," he said. "Human resource development is a great concern in the industry at present. The Government should do something to reorganise the Hotel School and bring it back to its past glory, he added. "We have a lot of things which come naturally to us, such as our smile, ability to learn things quickly and hospitable attitude. But, we need to set standards in the human resource sector. Otherwise we'll be in deep trouble," Leelananda said. John Keells Group has been heavily investing in developing hotel properties. "We have invested US$ 15 million in the Colombo Plaza and US dollar 3 million in the Trans Asia Hotel. He added that the industry's investments alone cannot do the best to the tourism sector, unless the Government takes action to improve basic infrastructure and reorganise the Hotel School. "We appreciate the SriLankan Airline's contributions towards promoting tourism and expanding the network and air taxi service to cater to the upmarket clientele. We have to keep on adding value to our product so that we can get better clients in the future. "With the air taxi service, we are achieving something different and getting a new clientele altogether," Leelananda added. As far as the Jetwing Group is concerned, the management has a two-fold plan to improve the island's tourism sector. The first is to upgrade the existing properties and the second is to continuously focus on the improvement and value addition of hotel properties. "We were into a program to upgrade the existing properties, which we have done successfully. We have upgraded some of our hotels into high end luxury hotels and these are good examples to say how one could upgrade the existing properties with much facilities. And these improvements would help lift the image of Sri Lanka as a destination with better hotel facilities," Jetwing's Managing Director, Hiran Cooray said. With the new boom in tourism, Cooray said, the authorities should not allow to set up buildings for the sake of doing it. "There should be hotels to cater to the future demand, but we should not build hotels for the sake of doing it. The authorities should set restrictions and laws which will allow sustainable and environment-friendly hotel projects. Also the community aspects should be taken into consideration when one builds a new hotel," he added. What should be the Governments' responsibility? We queried. "We want the Government to give us a level playing field. The Government should not try to increase taxes and increase electricity charges as we have made profits in this financial year. Firstly, we need to consolidate on this success," he added. Chairman, Mount Lavinia Hotel, Sanath Ukwatte said Sri Lanka made a progressive impact at the WTM this year. "We hope Sri Lanka will be in the forefront of the world tourism map and to sustain in that position, we need to improve our facilities such as infrastructure and human resources in a major way. As far as the Mount Lavinia Hotel is concerned, we are contributing our best to the industry and the community," he added. |
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