Colombo expands its Convention wings

Vipula Wanigasekera

Meetings industry in Sri Lanka did not emerge yesterday. Perhaps Sri Lanka was the first developing country to have demonstrated to the world her strength in conference handling when she hosted the Non- Aligned Conference in 1976 which was attended by 83 world leaders with over 500 high powered delegates accompanying them.

Outer view of the National Performing Art Theatre after completion. Photo courtesy construction team at the Centre

BMICH has been a city icon since then for decades and will continue to be so in the future. The Chinese gifted Convention hall later added two Exhibition Centres that are serving the industry with their full capacity.

This entity is a national asset which is now in the process of expanding into various related areas.

After having operated for over 30 years, the Convention hall has now gone into renovation that called for closure of the main plenary hall for sometime. The notice of closure created somewhat a phobia among the industry members and corporates who had planned their conferences in the coming months.

To the credit of all at BMICH, a temporary structure, to be made to a permanent outfit later has been set up ‘over night’, which was opened recently.

This Centre can hold up to 2000 delegates which is even more than the capacity of the plenary hall of the BMICH.

Further down the landscape, there is another eco-based conference centre titled Mihilaka which could house up to 500 delegates. The theme of this hall is ‘a place of meeting in a village’ where the surrounding comprise a paddy field, vegetable Kotuwa, a traditional drinking water well and a catering outfit that offers all village cuisines.

In other words, not only has the BMICH compensated for the loss of business due to the closure of the plenary hall but also has added additional conference capacity of 2500 seating into the overall premises making the total seating capacity to nearly 4000 all together after the renovation, without the two exhibition halls.

Another huge facility that will be ready for the Meetings and Events Industry is the National Performing Art Theatre, construction of which is progressing on schedule with the assistance of People’s Republic of China.

Located in the former Nomads grounds, this centre will provide modern, state-of-the-art facilities for events particularly related to art and culture.

Reminding us of the heritage, the structure of the building is designed to depict the Lotus Pond in the Polonnaruwa.

The location provides adequate underground parking, Banquet facilities, Meeting and Changing rooms.

This will have 14,000 square metres floor area and capacity to house well over 1700 visitors. The Centre will fulfil a long awaited need of the nation to promote excellence not only in performing art but also other events such as conferences and exhibitions.

The cost of this project is around Rs 3 billion with major part of the funds coming from China.

Two other major projects that are under construction will provide further convention capacity, one in the heart of the city and the other in the close suburbs.

These are private investments that have taken into consideration the need for convention facilities in the country.

The expansions of BMICH, the addition of Performing Art Centre plus the other Buildings with convention capacities are becoming a reality at a time the city was badly in need of locations for events. As a statutory body responsible for promoting MICE Tourism ( Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Exhibitions) , Sri Lanka Convention Bureau welcomes these initiatives and will do the utmost to promote the locations in its target markets overseas.

MICE tourism brings extra revenue into a country apart from its other benefits such as repeat visits and paving ways for trade and investment activities. It is sometimes called a separate industry with an extension of tourism.

The delegate experience of well-organised conferences in an attractive surroundings with high level of hospitality enable them to make a critical decision on where to invest or where to go for their next family holiday.

High incomes, high profits are common characteristics of the MICE tourism for which countries pay special attention when developing tourism infrastructure. The less conspicuous benefits include value-added and employment multipliers to the economy.

BMICH continues to be a city icon - Photo courtesy BMICH brochure

Another wise initiative to promote MICE tourism is the Hambantota project (which the writer intends elaborating in the next article), while the Tourism authorities are working on the land acquisition for locations in Jaffna and Negombo for the same purpose.

International MICE tourism and combined output accounts for about 1 percent of the world GDP. Coupled with the other benefits from related industries jointly working with MICE operations contributes 8 percent to the global economy.

‘Malaysia truly Asia’ campaign ensured coverage of MICE sector with the infrastructure development.

Today , with its world-class convention facilities, and having played host to many high-level conferences and meetings, the country ranks among the top 10 destinations for MICE with 7 percent of the tourism revenue emanating from that segment.

Thailand, with some 14 million visitors a year, is also targeting MICE activities heavily which currently account for 10 percent of total annual tourism revenue.

Both these countries are direct competitors to Sri Lanka and now that the development on MICE infrastructure has been placed on a fast track, Sri Lanka has better prospects with her diverse attractions, to compete with the region.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka Convention Bureau will gear itself to cater to these expanding facilities in the city as well as other existing locations including hotels with convention facilities, through their activities in promotions.