Govt. in desperate bid to salvage Chinese, Indian holidaymakers
The Sri Lankan authorities in a desperate bid to lure more tourists to the country are issuing free visas even to countries like China and India in a complete change of policy.
Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga announced on Tuesday that cabinet had granted approval to issue free visas to 45 countries that was previously suspended following the Easter Sunday attacks.
The government now in a desperate measure has adopted this policy of including China and India in the list of countries that will be issued free visas as they face bitter battles from the tourism industry that has decided to cancel all tourism road shows scheduled for the rest of the year.
China and India were two markets that generated the highest number of arrivals to the country but since the bombings in April the government has been keen to reassure them and has conducted road shows in these two markets and since the much-awaited promotion campaign is getting further delayed the authorities are adopting this extreme measure.
Previously, the minister pointed out that they would not be including India and China since they brought in the highest arrivals and it was important to cash in on them and not from other markets.
But this complete change of strategy and now a Chinese media delegation, one of the largest brought down by Sri Lanka clearly highlights desperate times in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
However the minister pointed out that they hope China would continue to be second highest generator of tourists to the country even by the end of this year.
He noted that Sri Lanka would allow their Mandarin speaking tour guides to participate in the travel tours but on the condition that local translators were also employed for these same tours.
“We are supportive of One China and Belt and Road Initiatives,” Minister Amaratunga said. He also pointed out that the connectivity between the two destinations would be stronger.
In this respect, SriLankan Airlines which already flies into three locations in China will be looking at adding Chengdu as well in the near future, the airline’s Head of Worldwide Sales Dimuthu Tennakoon said.
Chinese Embassy officials present on the occasion believed that Sri Lanka could recover fully in a shorter time and noted that the free visa entry was an important announcement as China was previously not meant to be included in this list.
Promotion Bureau’s Managing Director Charmarie Maelgae believed that Sri Lanka could recover “much faster than anticipated.” In fact, she noted that by the end of the year “we are confident of bouncing back.”
| Collection of data on MICE arrivals to be outsourced | |
| By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera Lack of data has prevented Sri Lanka from strategising on a proper MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) drive, industry officials say. Information or statistical tracking is necessary to implement a reliable way of documenting MICE tourist arrivals, they added. The MICE market refers to a specialised niche of group tourism dedicated to planning, booking, and facilitating conferences, seminars, and other events, which is a big money maker in the travel industry. At the Colombo Hoteliers Association (CHA) meeting held recently, in Colombo, Consultant Hospitality Marketing, Amal Goonetilleke noted that it’s important to collect data. “Without data, you cannot justify a strategic plan for MICE.” Achini Dandunnage, Senior Manager, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) said that SLCB is now in the process of appointing an outsourcing company to collect the numbers. It came out at the meeting that hotels don’t want to share information and currently even tourists that arrive for MICE purposes rarely disclose this at immigration for fear of complicating their visa processes. Hoteliers at the meeting called for an aggressive plan to boost MICE tourism which has grown by around 8 per cent of the Colombo city hotels business in the past year. Some hoteliers citing a recent study noted to the Business Times that tourists travelling for business purposes will often extend their stay to spend some days exploring or relaxing and shows that 67 per cent of business travellers take time off to relax during business travel, 58 per cent often stay a day or two more to get to know the city while others usually intend to return with friends or family for vacations. “So it is clear that business and leisure travel are often intertwined and very often complement each other. The MICE tourist spends on average double the amount that a traditional tourist spends, even up to six times more depending on the destination. Their tourist profile is one that expects to receive more premium services and tends to use more additional services. This is due to various factors, the first being that the spending power of this type of guest tends to be medium-high and so they will usually spend more than a conventional tourist,” a hotelier explained to the Business Times. Also to be taken into account is that the greater part of the expenses including food will be covered by their company and this allows the tourist to spend more of their own budget on extra services, shopping or other additional activities, he added. The Colombo hoteliers will also be meeting Treasury officials to build a state -of- the- art convention facility and they formed a committee to present their case to the officials at this CHA meeting. In April, tourism earnings were down 7.5 per cent to US$ 313 million whilst cumulative figures showed a 2.2 per cent gain to $ 1.7 billion. Tourist arrivals in May 2019 amounted to 37,802, down 70.8 per cent from a year earlier. This was mainly due to the decline in the number of tourists from key destinations such as India, the UK, Australia, Germany, China and the USA, in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks. Travel advisories issued by about 40 countries were softened during May and June, which is expected to have a positive impact on the industry for the rest of the year. These developments assisted in a near-doubling of arrivals in June, in comparison to May. The MICE industry size was valued at US$805 million in 2017 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.6 per cent to reach $1,439.3 million, globally. |