Tourism industry’s research symposium on ‘Lanka’s future’ in October
Tourism experts and academics will aim to make some headway to chart the course of the future of Sri Lanka’s industry at this year’s Tourism Leaders’ Summit and International Research Symposium 2017.
This will be the third consecutive conference held in Colombo and is scheduled to take place from October 3-4 at the BMICH with a number of events in the run up to the symposium. The theme for this year is “Sustainable Tourism for Development: Way Forward for Sri Lanka.”
The summit itself will include discussion topics like the ‘Dynamic diplomatic contribution for the Sri Lanka Tourism Development’; ‘How the national tourism policies could meet global best practices’; ‘Positioning the country as one of the finest island destinations in the world’ while experts will delve into the key driving forces for the future of Sri Lanka Tourism 2020 and the innovative strategies for supply chain and yield management.
Commencing from August a number of fringe events have been organized parallel to the summit namely awareness programmes on women for tourism development, tree-planting campaign, public awareness programme on sustainable tourism, industry interactive network building cricket carnival, tourism walk, tourism quiz and school students’ awareness programme.
Over 20 scholars, diplomats and national tourism leaders are expected to participate at the event that would witness a participation of about 1500 delegates with an expert panel from countries – UK, US, Australia, India, Spain, Japan, Sweden and Italy.
Founder and Coordinator of Master in Tourism Economics and Hotel Management from the Department of Economics of the University of Colombo Dr. Suranga Silva explained that this event would become a contribution towards knowledge and research for the industry’s development.
This would become a forum where the knowledge of experts and industry practitioners could be synergized, Dr. Silva explained adding that the research findings must apply for the tourism industry.
Tourism and Christian Affairs Minister John Amaratunga pointed out that it was research that had given headway to the industry’s growth in other countries and in this regard, local research could be used to steer the sector towards the right direction.
The Minister noted that the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) would in future endeavour to produce degree awarding programmes for which the University of Colombo has agreed to create the necessary curriculum.
Despite the few cancellations evident this month, Minister Amaratunga remained confident he could deliver with a higher number of arrivals above the projected 2.5 million arrivals this year based on renewed interest in Sri Lanka by group travellers.
University of Colombo’s Head of the Department of Economics, Ven. W. Wimalarathana commenting on the adverse impact of tourism said that any cultural impact could not be attributed solely towards tourism.
He explained that literature, social media and films could also be contributory forces adding that however, with global changes a country must adapt to these requirements noting that if the Sri Lankan culture was strong enough it could withhold the adverse impact of tourism.
On the contrary he pointed out that travellers today visit destinations including Sri Lanka to study the culture and traditions of this land.
Previous summits were able to produce papers that contributed to creating increased awareness of the poor turnout of women in the industry as a result of which a number of programmes were held on women empowerment, Dr. Silva explained.
In addition the pro-poor programmes were initiated to ensure that those in poverty could be absorbed into the industry by providing them with the necessary facilities to join the sector by identifying them from the Samurdhi beneficiaries, he said.
Moreover, the fact that English was a barrier to enter the workforce in the hotel sector was removed following a study carried out by the University of Colombo, it was noted.