Time To Get The Act Together

By our Travel Correspondent

Tourism industry, or rather the administration, in the paradise isle has gone back to the 2006 era, where the stakeholder associations and the authorities were pulling in different directions. The whole mechanism had fallen to such low levels that it had come to a stage where the chairman of the Tourist Board was virtually not in speaking terms with the president of the Tourist Hotels’ Association.
Today’s situation, it appears, is almost the same, where the Treasury Secretary Dr P. B. Jayasundera is at loggerheads with key officials of the tourism bodies, which has resulted in Dr  Nalaka Godahewa having to tender his resignation from three of the four institutions he had been heading. Last week, new appointments were made to three tourism institutions, which were under Dr Godahewa earlier. Baswara Gunaratne, Director of the Department of Zoological Gardens has been appointed Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB); politician and film producer Neil Rupasinghe – head of the Sri Lanka Tourism Convention Bureau (SLTCB) and industry veteran Chandra Mohotti – Chairman of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM). Dr Godahewa continues as Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA). Differences among the tourism officials apart, veterans in the industry note that the lack of promotional activities has resulted in the progress of the sector getting seriously hampered.  At the World Travel Market in London last November, not a single representative was present from Colombo leaving it all to the head of tourism office in London, Sanjika Perera, who did an excellent job ably assisted by his staff. Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in the UK, Dr Chris Nonis was also present at the global event, extending a welcome support to the industry stakeholders.  The following two major travel and tourism events too were no better. No Tourism Authority officials from Colombo took part in the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) held in Berlin, Germany and the Arabian Travel Mart (ATM) in Dubai were representing the island nation.
According to participants, it was a loss of face for the whole industry and the reason for non-attendance was that the Treasury had not approved funds for such promotional activities. It has been observed that the Treasury Secretary Dr Jayasundera is of the view that promotional activities are of less importance and hence the lack of enthusiasm towards such endeavours. The issue had been raised in many a forum but no favourable response had been forthcoming.  Industry veterans are at a loss to understand the logic of it and they point out that even countries who are already doing well in the tourism sector such as the Maldives, India, Malaysia, etc. are continuing with their promotions with much bigger and better campaigns.   Another key area, the travel veterans, especially the travel agents point out is the minimum room rate scheme. Describing the move as premature, travel agents allege that the scheme had been introduced to serve the interests of certain individuals who had misled the authorities into going ahead with the scheme. Industry veterans also point out that the Sri Lanka Tourism Authority was established in 2007 after numerous delays and it broke away from the four-decade old SLTB. They observe that the new developments would eventually lead to a stage where the private sector participation in the decision-making process could be negligible.
They also voice concern that new moves could also result in the Cess Fund too being passed on to the Treasury.According to industry sources, the right people in the right places are extremely important and at a time where there is opportunity to develop the island nation’s hospitality industry, disputes and differences among key officials that result in resignations should be avoided at all costs.