Lanka not a ‘buyer’s market’ - Renton

Ramani KANGARAARACHCI

Tourism must not be left in the hands of ‘traders’ who try to make a fast buck.

“Sri Lanka needs to venture to create ‘dream experiences’ that are of high value which could bring in high yields without exploitation of tourists,” former Sri Lanka Tourist Board Chairman, Renton De Alwis said. Speaking at the fifth AGM of the Institute of Environmental Professionals Association on Friday he said, the country is no longer in a ‘buyer’s market’ where the facilities are created and the prices sold were mostly dictated by overseas corporate tour and charter operators.

Alwis said the country is in a position to enter a ‘sellers market’ where it could determine the nature and quality of the experience; the type of visitors and the prices that should be charged. “What is required is to make good use of info-communication tools to reach customers and customer segments directly, without limiting to markets defined by geographical boundaries,” he said.

The relationship-based business model of the past, does not serve the way it did then.

“Most overseas tourism corporate entities are driven today by only bottom-line considerations. They tend to drop destinations the moment they stop performing, unlike in the past when loyalties mattered,” he said.

He said Sri Lanka’s tourism policy-makers should not be bothered too much of what volume of visitors the country should have, be it 2.5 million by 2016 or a million by 2012.

“They should not rush to harness the potential of the North and the East to meet the fast-paced demand that will come, by taking on unsustainable models of tourism development”.

The focus should be on gaining the highest possible yield from tourism through exercising least pressure on resources.

Attention must be placed on gaining direct benefit in foreign exchange earnings for the country and people. It should be ensured that a substantial portion of the forex earned from tourism is retained within the country, by both minimizing the need for input imports and plugging the avenues available for leakage and non-retention of earnings.

“The next phase of our tourism development need be a tourism driven by communities with a wider spread of stakeholdership and participation.

“This is possible today given the growth of new free independent travel demand at the mid and high-ends of the market, which was absent in the early stages of tourism’s development,” he said.