Tourism needs to rebuild and rebrand – Minister Harin Fernando
View(s):“Now is a time to rebuild,” he said at a briefing held to inform tourism industry stakeholders and the media on the way forward for Sri Lanka Tourism.
He noted that it is high time Sri Lanka be rebranded and in this respect he pointed out that the industry needs to re-think and rebrand the destination.
The beaches need to be more attractive and ensured that after 15 years it is set to be a hit destination.
With most of those travelling long haul unlikely to holiday in Colombo he noted that they need to continue their focus on markets like India.
“We do have to compete with other countries but you can’t run a hotel at US$60,” Minister Fernando said insisting that minimum room rates are required to sell the destination.
In this respect, he noted there should be “collective responsibility”.
An increase in the number of air transport services is needed like DP Aviation that commenced operations on July 1 in addition to IWS and Cinnamon Air.
NAS Daily, a social media influencer will also be brought in to sell Sri Lanka as he is “huge” Mr. Fernando noted adding that he has been picked out to focus on the country’s waterfalls, train services, and why you need to invest in Sri Lanka.
The Minister also noted the need for an increase in the workforce for which he pointed out that they need to establish recruitment centres in all 25 districts providing eight week courses and increase the cadre.
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Chairman Priantha Fernando speaking at the briefing said that they want to target 5 million tourists by 2030 and hope to achieve 1.5 million by the end of this year alone. He also noted that despite the opening up of China it will be slow to pick up.
Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Chalaka Gajabahu said that as part of the tourism promotional campaign they will be commencing Phase 1 titled Rejuvenate Sri Lanka to be launched by end July that will highlight the warm welcome of the 22 million people on the island to the arriving travellers.
Markets to be focused on are the UK, Germany, France, India, Ukraine, Russia, West Asia, Scandinavia, South Korea, Japan and Australia.
Sri Lanka Convention Bureau Chairman Thisum Jayasuriya said that they generate 5 per cent of the tourist arrivals to the country through MICE.
Currently there are nine confirmed conferences for this year with eight planned events in India, Bangladesh China, MICE Expo in Jaffna, Pakistan and Indonesia.
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