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Sri Lanka: Renowned hotelier warns tourism industry not to sit back and wait
Mon, 2010-09-06 03:30 — editor
Business & Finance
By Santhush Fernando
06 September, (Asiantribune.com):
Renowned Sri Lankan hotelier, R. B. Thambiayah, Chairman of Renuka City Hotels PLC, says that country’s hotel and tourism industry cannot ‘sit back’ waiting for ‘things to happen’ and cited four crucial criteria that need to be satisfied.
“The year in review has been the first full year of peace the country has had in more than twenty five years, and tourism was one of the first industries to experience its rewards. However, just because the war has finally ended our industry must not sit back and hope for things to happen. It is time for bold and far-reaching decisions and actions to be made and goals to be set to chart our industries' course to the next level in international tourism,” Thambiyah said in the chairman’s review which appeared in Renuka Hotel PLC’s 2009/10 annual report.
Cites four crucial factors for tourism growth are - Well-defined tourism zones , Government incentives for the tourism industry, Specific plan to market Sri Lanka to the world, & Infrastructure and human resources development
Here is what he had to say. Sri Lanka has made it into the National Geographic's top ten islands to visit. This is indeed a great accolade and a boost to our country's image as it is projected to a large worldwide audience. We must however ask ourselves the question, what are we lacking to be the best island in the world? It is certainly not a lack of natural beauty or natural resources.
Sri Lanka tourism through the vision of the President plans to achieve 2.5 million tourists by the year 2016. It is estimated that an investment of US$ 1.5 billion would be needed to develop the number of rooms required to house this amount of tourists. A number of criteria will need to be satisfied to achieve this objective.
Firstly, tourism zones will have to be demarcated with well-defined plots of land that have all the necessary authorizations. If this is to be done obsolete laws and regulations should be amended and inter-agency coordination should be available. The authorities should be of one mind with regard to the suitability of the locations and security concerns as otherwise building operations could face difficulties mid stream.
Currently, especially in the City of Colombo, no adequate plots of land are available that have the potential for development. A number of issues hinder development in the available plots in the city such as no clear title, no access etc. Adequate infrastructure (including water, electricity and sewerage facilities) should also be provided to these zones, especially the deep south and the north where these facilities are barely available.
These well-planned zones with strict guidelines for development will ensure that haphazard development is avoided and that investment can be made rapidly.
Secondly, in order to promote the development of hotels, the government should grant incentives such as tax holidays and duty free concessions. In the 1980's and 1990's there was a great number of hotels that were built due to the incentives given by the government. This development would not have happened if not for the incentives given as it is difficult to make the returns due to the huge capital expenditure in building a hotel. After the tax free period the government will more than make up the concessions in increased revenue from these same hotels.
Thirdly, Sri Lanka tourism should have a specific plan to market Sri Lanka to the world. This cannot be done by advertising our natural beauty alone. More innovations and product diversifications such as theme parks and other entertainment are needed to prop up the tourism industry and products should be available that are at least able to compete with similar competing destinations.
Fourthly, in order to accommodate the influx of tourists', improvements in public transport including an efficient domestic air travel network is essential.
The accepted industry norms of having each destination less than 3 hours from an airport should be made a reality. Further, human resources for the tourism industry also need to be looked at. There are number of jobs available and a number of people applying for these jobs, however to find competent staff to manage and run hotels among these people is becoming increasingly more difficult. Proper hotel schools need to be set up that give training in all aspects of hotel management including knowledge of English.
We can no longer blame the war; we can no longer blame the economic downturn as the reasons for our woes; now the slate is wiped clean for us to forge ahead to new horizons. The need of the hour is for the industry to pull together in order to ensure that this transitional period is seen through with the hope of regaining the glory days to tourism in Sri Lanka.
R. B. Thambiayah, educated at the University of Madras, where he received a Degree in Economics, has been a President of Colombo City Tourist Hotels Association and Vice-President of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL).
He is Chairman and Managing Director of several companies in the Renuka Hotels Group as well as of the Cargo Boat Development Company PLC. He sits on the Board of a number of other companies including DFCC Bank and Royal Ceremics Lanka PLC. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (UK).The year 2009/2010 was Renuka Hotel PLC’s 15th year of operation and the results have been pleasing with the Company showing profitability of Rs. 194 million.
Other operating income contributed substantially to this figure, with the Interest Income of Rs. 77.5 million being the major contributor. The Company was able to record substantial profit due to the prudent practices followed in investment. The average occupancy was 76% which was well above previous years.