SL Tourism has lot to get right, says expert

• Destination expert Oliver Martin asserts industry needs smart thinking and strategies
• Says country’s tourism marketing mix and pitch need to be revisited
• Calls for strong strategic plan with inputs from both govt. and industry
• Wants SL to be promoted and positioned as a premium tourism experience 
• Urges for a smart decision-making process based on evidence and research 

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
The local tourism sector yesterday was presented with the harsh reality that it simply isn’t doing enough to reach its aspirations as planned and to make any real progress it is essential for the authorities to smartly relook at the industry’s marketing mix.

Presenting the industry’s status as it truly is, global destination specialist Oliver Martin, who spoke at Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2020, organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, said Sri Lanka is looking in the wrong direction for progress.

“First and foremost, we need a strong strategic plan and a whole lot of government and industry partnership for Sri Lanka to take us forward.

We need to put out a bunch of strategies on the table, prioritise them, figure how we should resource them, who is in charge and take that forward and get longer-term results,” said Martin, a Partner at Twenty31 Consulting Inc.
Pointing out that Sri Lanka continues to attract low-yielding travellers, who do not value the country’s culture and natural resources among others, he stressed that time is right to focus on tourists, who would value the true Sri Lankan experience.

He also pointed out that while high value does not necessarily mean luxury, the industry needs to pitch the island nation as a premium destination. 

“Sri Lanka is a premium tourism experience. It needs to be promoted and positioned as just that. Premium means you value and understand your tourism experience, so price, position 
and market it as such,” he said.

“It breaks my heart to see Sri Lanka is a low-end mass tourism industry. We need to have travellers who would like to experience whatever Sri Lanka has on offer,” expressed Martin.

At higher level, the consultant said the industry needs to do much better in terms of using evidence and research to make smart decisions and part of that effort is to have a proper consumer segmentation, where the focus needs to be on culturally aware, authentic experiencing type of traveller.

Furthermore, the need for substantial investment in the industry was also highlighted. Not only in terms of product and experience but also in terms of the itineraries developed and packaged. 

With 2021 being more of a year of vaccination and less about revival, Martin urged the local tourism sector to think “smarter, better and faster” than its competitors since all are eagerly waiting for a share of the “small pie” of outbound travellers.