Travel

Tourism marketing should go high tech

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

General Manager, Mount Lavinia Hotel, Dewapura

Sri Lankan tourism marketing should move with the modern trends and look at more techno based marketing to attract new clientele.

General Manager, Mount Lavinia Hotel, Anura Dewapura, who assumed office last week said authorities, should look at U Tube, Facebook, mobile and web based marketing.

With more than 28 years of hospitality industry experience having worked in 13 countries he said that with the worldwide global rescission the projections for travel industry are not favorable.

Today's traveller is already becoming more selective, as there are more choices to decide on and consider when traveling.

Mount Lavinia Hotel

"The fiscal year for 2009 in our hotel starts in April, hence we are carefully analyzing the impact of this year's events, trends and booking pace, in order to establish the most realistic and achievable projections for 2009. We will strive to secure the bottom line growth through operational excellence, renewed business processes without having an impact on customer service and hotel's position in the market," he said.

Knowing the fact that our country lived the 25 year of commotion and the Government has successfully reached the last stage of this war, one would expect that peace in our country would eventually have a positive impact on overall economy and tourism.

"However we cannot expect that peace will suddenly bring immediate buoyancy in travel and tourism. It will very much depend on the way our country is re-introduced in the world's travel market. We will need to secure trust, security and stability from all inbound markets." Devepura said.

"I am a firm believer that lowering our hotel rates will not ultimately bring more occupancy. It will have a spiral effect on the entire market."

The rich romantic history of Mount Lavinia along with the areas in south and hilly part of the island makes the prime venue for romantic getaways.