Sprucing up hotel staff, introducing new regulations and an unchanged structure at Sri Lanka Tourism were some of the issues and expectations raised by Anura Lokuhetty who stepped down as Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President last Tuesday. Mr Lokuhetty has headed the organization since 2010 and believes the industry is on the [...]

Feeds Editorials Times Online

The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Vigorous boost for tourism in all areas needed, says former THASL President

View(s):

Sprucing up hotel staff, introducing new regulations and an unchanged structure at Sri Lanka Tourism were some of the issues and expectations raised by Anura Lokuhetty who stepped down as Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President last Tuesday.

Mr Lokuhetty has headed the organization since 2010 and believes the industry is on the “right track to forge ahead with the current infrastructure development drive initiated by authorities. In an interview with the Business Time he spoke of the number of changes and future of the industry in addition to expectations from tourists going forward.

He pointed out that the dawn of peace has ensured the country has been able to convince investors to enter the tourism industry and encourage more tourists to visit the island nation.

But Mr. Lokuhetty noted that the industry was more concerned of the development drive compared to recent changes at the top. He added that though there were initial discussions relating to changes to the Tourism Act however it is believed the idea has now been shelved. “The (current) Act is quite good,” he said.

In terms of the workforce he believed there were a number of areas for improvement in view of the general attitude.
With the current 160,000 directly and indirectly involved in the industry it is estimated that about 500,000 would join the workforce upon achieving the 2.5 million targeted arrivals by 2016. This would mean that two million or one – tenth of the population would be dependent on the tourism industry.

While ex-employees currently overseas want to come back home, the outgoing association president observed he gets calls almost daily from those seeking opportunities in Sri Lanka.

Matching upto the effectiveness and efficiency of the European staff by the polite and friendly Sri Lankan staff is an area that needs to be worked on in a bid to offer professional services, he said.

Employees tend to move between hotels in a bid to look for increased pay, Mr. Lokuhetty pointed out noting that even today some would opt to go overseas as well.

However, he observed that certain areas for improvement would be mainly in terms of wildlife tour regulations where visitors, guides and jeep drivers must be made aware that maintaining the natural habitat was imperative to attract more visitors.

The industry is in the right direction but needs fine-tuning in areas of human resources, marketing, product improvement, attitude of the people and considering tourism as a profession, he said.

Tourism is also likely to enter the curriculum following initiatives of the private sector, he said adding “It’s not just about building a number of rooms but we must have the higher education system focused on tourism.”

Another area of concern was the implementation of the promotional campaign, which he believes would kick off “very soon.” The industry submitted its proposal to authorities recently, he said.

Looking back at some of the issues confronted during his tenure, Mr. Lokuhetty observed that the liquor licence for establishments within 500 metres of a school or place of worship was changed. This would mean that those even within this radius could obtain a liquor licence based on the investment size at more than US$2 million in the outstations and more than US$4 million in city limits.

Another issue worked out was allowing hotels to charge tourists through foreign currency and the conversion of the association to a legal entity by establishing it as a company.

The former president however noted that they were yet to ensure that a uniform tax system be implemented in all local authorities.
But they were capable of convincing the relevant authorities of the need to change the current structure where local authority taxes varied from one area to another, he said.




Share This Post

DeliciousDiggGoogleStumbleuponRedditTechnoratiYahooBloggerMyspace
comments powered by Disqus

Advertising Rates

Please contact the advertising office on 011 - 2479521 for the advertising rates.