Tourism

Profiling 'Up Market' tourism clientele

Vipula Wanigasekera

Promoting Sri Lanka as a destination and venue among up-scale tourists and visitors has always been in tourism plans, programs and agendas.

The subject comes up in most tourism deliberations which emerges as a priority that both authorities and Industry have to pursue vigorously.

This was briefly put across by experts as 'value against numbers' with the notion that Sri Lanka should make more efforts to go after high end market segments and niches in order to enhance the tourism receipts that will flow down to peripherals and stakeholders particularly the informal sectors.

At a time tourism industry has shown a tremendous growth and arrivals have been increasing after peace dawned on the country, it is desirable to focus the marketing spot light on high end visitors to gain optimum revenue although package tourism helped us all these years and kept the institutions above the water.

Meanwhile a few smart moves in the past by several industry members made it possible for Sri Lanka to have a few themed products that were positioned for high spenders.

Some luxury boutique hotels were charging as high as US$ 400 a night even before the conflict ended and it is time we took a serious note on their approach towards their success.

It is hoped therefore, until such time the star class hotels are built in tourism development areas, the Boutique, Bungalow, Villa concepts will generate this extra revenue with effective communication by the respective industry members with a lot of promotional efforts. Who are these up market clients and segments as against mass tourism and package holidaymakers?.

Obviously the MICE visitor is a high spender and this is simply the reason for Singapore and Malaysia to promote MICE before they launched their countries as brands for leisure.

Apart from meetings, Conferences and Exhibitions, the incentive traveller needs more attention by the industry as most incentive groups, knowingly or otherwise, are also treated as packaged holidays down the line.

Those who are given a tour abroad as a reward, bonus or special training fall into this category and they have high expectations.

This area calls for attention in shifting the promotional efforts to Incentive travel sector.

Similarly, segmenting the products and promoting them will result in creating interest among various interest groups who will pay the extra dollar.

Agritourism has different definitions and refers to farm stays but extended to wide variety of activities involving the visitor within the areas from picking fruits and vegetables, riding bullock carts and tasting fresh curd.

Agritourism if developed, is one alternative for improving the level of income and economic viability of small farms and rural communities.

Culinary tourism or food tourism is defined as experiencing the food of the country, region or area, and is now carried out by many destinations as a vital component of tourism experience.

The basic factor of dining out habit of tourists is the opportunity taken to develop this segment which Sri Lankan could exploit.

In cultural tourism, Sri Lanka is in a leading position but unfortunately the visits are confined to a round tour and there is little knowledge to ascertain who is interested and in what?

The inclination to learn more about kingdoms over colonial times or vice versa, if known, can enable the industry to tailor the itineraries for which the visitor will not hesitate to pay the price.

Cultural tourism entails beyond visits to locations of historic sites to learning of lifestyles and traditions of people in various regions.

Ecotourism or ecological tourism appeals to socially conscious individuals although some argue that the extra dollar is still not paid by the traveller. It could be debated in a way that pay day of Eco tourism is on its way.

In other words it is futuristic and benefits are associated with offering tourists insight into the impact of human beings on the environment, and to foster appreciation of our natural habitats.

Geotourism aims to preserve the geographical character of places, the concept of which was introduced publicly in 2002.

Geotourism provides a local incentive to protect what tourists are coming to see, and incorporates all characteristics that contribute to sense of place, such as historic structures, living and traditional culture and landscapes.

A few countries such as Thailand thrives on medical tourism which is a term coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practise of travelling across international borders to obtain health care.

Sri Lanka also gets quite a number of visitors for medical treatment and to expand this area, the hospital and insurance companies must get together to encourage linkages with counter parts to send their patients across to Sri Lanka.

There are issues to be resolved in accreditation and other measures of quality and treatment.

In religious tourism, Ramayana tours are picking up but the country is yet to succeed in realization of her true potential in promoting Buddhism and Buddhist culture considering that Sri Lanka is primarily a Buddhist country.

One aspect that writer has repeatedly pointed out is the need to present the core teachings of Buddhism to visitors from which they could benefit spiritually.

Wildlife tourism is still a part of package tourism and this requires to be extended to specially targeted wildlife enthusiasts.

A few industry experts offer many facilities from camping sites and even erecting luxury tents with super service for high end clients from where they could experience Sri Lanka's wildlife including the whale and dolphin watching.

Countries like Africa, Indonesia, India and South America exploit this opportunity which have experienced a dramatic and rapid growth in recent years which is also closely aligned to eco and sustainable tourism.

Emotional appeals in communication methods and modes, offering an 'experience' as against a holidays and delivering what is promised are the pillars behind the success of shifting from number to value tourism.

With the infrastructure developing and other issues such as beggars, stray dogs, garbage being solved one by one, the overall approach is now expected to move towards high end tourism which the Sri Lankan industry is quite capable of achieving after being resilient to vicissitudes for three decades.