Positive Destination Marketing A Must For Ailing Tourism Industry For Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka known as Ceylon, Taprobane, and Pearl of the Indian Ocean has a rich culture and a heritage as history reveals to us. But due to some Negative impact on our beautiful country we have been deprived from this. The reason is none other than the waging civil war in our country for the last two and half decades. Other countries in the region have done well to develop their destination to the world. For instance take Mauritius, Maldives being smaller countries has been able to target high spending tourists from the European tourists markets. If you look closely into their macro economy what do they have when compared with our country, I could say they have nothing. Sri Lanka has much more to offer. Beginning from the sea sun and sand, to culture heritage, eco. Biodiversity etc you name we could offer by segmenting and targeting to the correct audience.

We could develop our strategy by adapting to our branding strategy by moving into multi-branding strategy. We Brand our destination as “Land like no other” same as “Malaysia Truly Asia” & “Amazing Thailand”. But at the same time we should develop multi-branding strategy by selecting places of interests such as Kandy, Cultural Triangle, Dambulla-Sigiriya, Anurudhapura-Pollonnaruwa, and beaches in the south, eastern beaches in Trincomalee (Nilavali) Batticoloa (Arugam Bay), Nuwara-Eliya etc. Also we could develop and build our North & Eastern Coasts by constructing beach Hotels and beach resorts like in Maldives by developing water bungalows in the calm coast with a panoramic breathtaking view.

The Tourist Board is interested in improving Eco-Tourism, MICE Tourism, Hard and Soft adventure, Agri-Tourism, Spa/Health and Cruise Tourism where the latter is becoming more demanding and famous through out the country. Hotels such as Kandalama have won numerous awards for its Eco friendly nature.
In addition, the hospitable nature of Sri Lankans is an appeal to the discerning traveller. The feeling throughout the country is welcoming and kind despite the ethnic conflict which is prevailing in the country. Their sparkling smiles, Genuine kindness and Good service, is definitely recognized as a strong asset when promoting Sri Lanka as a tourist destination.

ECO TOURISM
Eco-tourism is an activity which is developing rapidly and growing fast in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka identifies Eco-tourism as “Responsible travel to natural and cultural areas that conserve the environment and improves the well being of local communities”. Eco-tourism is often misinterpreted as a nature based activity only, but it is related to many activities such as Nature/Culture Observation & interaction, Water Adventures/ Ecotourism, Land Adventures/Ecotourism, Wildlife Viewing & Understanding and Community based Ecotourism/Eco-Agro Tourism (which is linked to the social values of Eco tourism). Sri Lanka can be regarded as a blessed country as it has all resources favourable for eco tourism activity. It is a diversified country which specializes in many areas. Sri Lanka has a tremendous landscape and natural features, plant and wild life species which are also found globally. However, the unique feature that must be mentioned is the great bio diversity that such a small island holds; it is in fact considered as an international “hot spot” of bio diversity. The country harbours 435 species of birds (23 are endemic), 92 species of mammals (14 are endemic), 242 species of butterflies (42 are endemic), 107 species of fish, and many more species of amphibians, reptiles, snakes and others. The diversity of flora is also high as it has over 3,000 species of flowering plants, besides many other types. It is also notable that 5 out of 7 turtles in the world can be seen in Sri Lanka. When cultural diversity is added to this mix, Sri Lanka stands apart from most other destinations. Sri Lanka has designated 13% of its land area for wild life and nature conservations, places such as Yala, Bundala, Udawallawe, Sinharaja etc. It also has 7 world heritage sites such as Annuradhapura, Galle, Kandy, Sinharaja Forest, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa and the Sigiriya Rock which are of international tourism appeal. One of it is a natural world heritage sites the Sinharaja Forest, which was also declared a Man and Biosphere (MAB) in 1989. In addition there are a range of hard and soft adventure activities such as trekking, camping, wild life safaris, bird watching, white water rafting, scuba diving, cycling, mountain climbing and so on which appeal to the various categories of eco tourists. Many eco tourists visit Sri Lanka as part of a commercial tour package. Such packages focus on particular interest such as birding, incorporating cultural sites, many types of wild life viewing or soft ware activities. While the above mentioned places attract eco tourists it is depressing that only 10% to 12% of tourists visiting the country actually visit these places. Many eco tourists have placed Sri Lanka as a destination which has capability and potential to grow as it is a diversified country with many resources but does lack coordination in key areas such as the marketing strategy it adopts, infrastructure facilities which is poor & not maintained, environmental protection policies are not clearly conveyed to tourist and properly implemented, planning and development & construction (town / city planning) should be done more accurately and there is also clearly a lack of training and awareness.

MICE TOURISM (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions)
`MICE tourism is far by one of the lucrative niches of tourism. Sri Lanka has a major advantage compared to other countries as it is easily accessible from major parts of the world. However, Sri Lanka has always been a popular venue for conferences and meetings in South Asia even when the ethnic conflict was witnessed a few years back. Now with the 20 years of conflict been put to an end and peace prevailing in the country MICE tourism has great potential to grow. The Sri Lankan Convention bureau, the government authority which promotes MICE tourism for Sri Lanka has recognized a growth of 80% in hotel occupancy in Colombo and approximately about 60% of those in resort areas.

To promote Sri Lanka as a MICE destination, the bureau has launched a special campaign called ‘Meet in Sri Lanka’. This program has already been launched in countries such as Singapore as ‘Meet in Singapore’ & in Hong Kong as the ‘city of life’ campaign. In addition a brand new CD that provides information on Sri Lanka as a destination along with specific details for meetings, conferences planners and organizers has also been designed and released. The bureau is also conducting these programs in Pakistan, Singapore, and Malaysia and in cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mangalore during the upcoming quarter. The Far East is also especially important as regional travel is on the rise and Sri Lanka is becoming a popular tourist destination. As part of the program to boost foreign currency to Sri Lanka, a land mark agreement was signed the Colombo City association and the Sri Lanka Association of Professional Conferences to charge minimum room rates for conferences and meetings. Plans have already been made to hold more conferences in areas out side Colombo, which is a positive sign because Colombo already is congested. With the ethnic conflict being put to an end Sri Lanka has great potential to grow as a MICE destination. But we need to build more of these places. Until recently only BMICH and SLECC was there. But these locations didn’t have enough capacity to accommodate large crowds with proper parking facilities which can accommodate more than thousand people like in other developed countries. Where recently the Waters Edge had been constructed and many events take place at the Waters Edge. And also proper planning for a larger gathering should be built outside Colombo. And proper Transport facilities should be planned with greater emphasis made on logistics planning such as rail and road transport system in the country, where it will lead to socio-economic development in the country.

BOUTIQUE HOTELS
In the recent periods the Tourism industry has changed into boutique Hotel concept, where it is being targeted at niche markets at the upper end of the market. Currently Sri Lanka is doing well in this regard but could be developed immensely with more room beds and hotels in this nature. Some of the popular boutique hotels in Sri Lanka are Elephant Corridor, Vil Uyana, and The Fortress etc. There are so many potential sites across the country in Uva and North Central provinces. By constructing more of these types of hotels we could capture more foreign currency to the country.

AREAS IN WHICH THE TOURIST INDUSTRY NEEDS
IMPROVEMENT

Sri Lanka is regarded as a diversified country with many resources. The country definitely has many resources to make Sri Lanka the most famous tourist destination in the world, but having resources it self is not a key criteria to make a country productive, it also needs to be efficient and effective when utilizing its resources. This is one of the major constrains that the country faced in the past and still seems to be facing, mainly due to the severe ethnic clash witnessed in the country for the last 20 years. Due to this reason the Sri Lankan economy has become unstable and growth in potential and key areas such as the tourist industry has been put on hold. As a result the tourist industry in Sri Lanka is lagging a few years behind other countries. As mentioned previously accommodation is already becoming a problem as more tourist arrivals were recorded during the last couple of years, since the cease fire agreement between the government and the LTTE was put into effect. If the conflict is put to an end and peace is restored in the country there will definitely be more tourists visiting the country, therefore the country should get prepared to accommodate all tourists and also make them welcome and comfortable. Sri Lanka has got many exclusive hotels but most of them seem to be placed around the city. The few exclusive hotels which are situated out station such as Elephant Corridor, Habarana Lodge, Taj Exotica, Mahaweli Reach, Light House Hotel, and Kandalama Hotel etc. have only a few rooms to offer its visitors. To overcome this problem the Tourist Board is hoping to construct more hotels outstation and to expand some of the existing hotels. However this would only be possible if foreign aid and investment is made to the country, which will greatly depend on the progress of the now stalled peace process. Another key area which needs emphasis is the infrastructure facility in Sri Lanka. The internal infrastructure such as roads, rail boat and domestic flights are rather poor in the city as well as in rural areas. Tour companies do provide good quality coaches but due to severe road traffic, journeys within Colombo become very tiring & rather exhausting to the traveller. If sea planes &/or hovercrafts are used to carry out airport to resort transfers, traffic could be reduced by a great extent. The lack of airlines is also another problem for only one national carrier ‘Sri Lankan Airlines’ is available, which makes 50% of the air lifts per week to Colombo. Also they should look at introducing boat / ferry services on canals, lakes and rivers why not implement a boat service in sea and reduce the congestion on the main roads by constructing jetties from Colombo to Moratuwa as a pilot projects and if it’s a success we could expand to other congested areas as well. This is done in Maldives between islands but we could implement in the cities as well. There is potential to improve in these areas, but, as mentioned above, resources should be carefully planned and put to use, thereby making the out come more effective and productive. As good health facilities are not available out of Colombo it is important during an emergency to transfer the patient/(s) as soon possible to the hospitals based in Colombo. For emergencies such as this, it is important to have good communication and infrastructure facilities in the country. This should definitely be the first improvement they make within the country. Hotels also lack qualified management staff which makes efficient running of hotels difficult. In most occasions tourists find it difficult to communicate with the employees in the hotels. These are minor problems which, if corrected, could bring about a major positive change. Therefore, this should be addressed as soon as possible to provide better services to customers. To overcome these problems, employees should be given intensive training in hotel schools even if it is expensive for the respective hotels, as it would be a long term investment with significant spin-offs. Another major problem is the harassment of tourists by beach boys and touts in the Southern coastal areas. A current survey indicates that 45% of tourists complain of harassments by beach boys. Also all new hotels must have waste and water treatment plants. Another issue that has to be addressed is the poor implementation of environmental policies/ awareness. There is waste dumped every where even in the main city of Colombo, and very little recycling is being done through out the country. If Sri Lanka is to be marketed around the world as a tourist destination this is yet another issue which has to be looked in to. Sri Lanka should have litter baskets every where and pasting of posters and waste should be banned. Anyone misusing state property should be fined like other countries do. There should be more rules, regulations, law and order enforced in the country. Sri Lanka, as mentioned above, is a diversified country with sea and sand, Eco-tourism, adventure, pilgrimage, agriculture, industrial, urban, Historical-archaeology, Colonial, festivals and sport are in abundance but, it is depressing that most of these aspects are not highlighted when promoting the country as a tourist destination. It clearly lacks management strategy, insufficient research and investment, variable quality and lack of interest and enthusiasm in the country. If the ethnic conflict in the country is resolved there definitely would be more opportunities and potential for the tourist industry in Sri Lanka to grow as a tourist destination and be highlighted as one of the best among other tourist sites in the world. If proper mechanisms are put in place we could do much better than Maldives, Mauritius and even better than Bangkok in Thailand etc.
The table shows the trend of tourist arrivals and their spending trends and the number of people who are employed either directly or indirectly.

Sri Lanka has the potential to be marketed as a high end up market destination with the others like Maldives, Singapore Malaysia, and Bangkok in the region. It lacks the proper infrastructure and the political leadership to harness the potential. The main reason is the on going ethnic war for the last 25 years in the country between the government forces and the LTTE rebels. Considering the Trincomalee harbour it self is a fact that it’s supposed to be one of the largest natural harbours in the world and also major tourist attractions where it’s a eye smoothening site in the beach and the corals are being located. So are we allowing our petty minded politicians to tarnish the countries image by allowing it to be named a pariah state very soon by the way the things are happening. The 26th of March saw another chapter in our ethnic war where the terrorists used its air power to demonstrate their vulnerability to the rest of the world. Due to the recent Tiger air raids in Colombo the tourist industry has recorded many cancellations and tourists are not coming to visit Sri Lanka. Also our only international airport is being closed from 10pm to 4am as a precautionary step. This is a major negative impact on the tourism industry. So think a minute and try to make a change so our beloved country will be a better place without hatred or abductions and killings. The high spending Tourists from the EU, UK and the other countries will come to visit Sri Lanka to marvel at the wonders that God has created to us Sri Lankan, where we should be proud of. We need to segment the market on inspirational needs and the behavioural patterns of the many thousand travellers, whilst developing niche market segmentation for our tourism industry.