Bringing back the tourists

Stake holders say Sri Lanka needs innovating thinking to revive the fallen industry 

“Right now one of the major methods to get direct foreign exchange to the country is the tourism industry”

“We created a new zonal map and using this, we can build new tourism zones and identify new attractions.”

“When funds like these are released, they don’t get shared among small-scale businesses, guest houses and tour guides”

“Most tour members’ cars are old and sold off, thus rendering them jobless”

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority said that tourist arrivals had marked an increase from June to July, with 47,293 tourists arriving in Sri Lanka in July. 

Yet, the arrivals for July plunged by almost 55.5% compared to March 2022, which recorded the highest number of tourist arrivals for 2022. 

The SLTDA stated the main reason was the effects of the current economic and political situation in Sri Lanka.
The Tourism Promotion Bureau is in the process of changing its 2023 target after President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in the interim budget for 2022 presented on Wednesday (30), said that he had set a target of welcoming 2.5 million tourists by the end of 2023. 

Accordingly, the tourism industry was allocated Rs.300 million for its development projects, following several years of severe blows. 

We asked major tourism stakeholders for their views on the recent developments, new plans and their potential success.

Zonal maps: A new approach to handling tourism
Sri Lanka Institute of National Tourist Guide Lecturers (SLINTGL) President, Hashan Fonseka said, all matters addressed by the President during the budget speech, had already been discussed within the industry over a 
long period. 

“The Institute hopes to introduce new plans for this ailing sector and we are hopeful of an opportunity to discuss these with the President, who in the budget speech outlined the need to identify new tourist zones in the island,” he said/
“We completely agree with what he said,” Fonseka told the 
Daily Mirror. 

“We have to identify new tourist destinations and build new tourist zones there. We should make sure that those zones don’t affect the sustainability of our environment and our community.” 

According to him, Sri Lanka should consider the distance between tourist zones and the new attraction sites. He also added that community tourism is another area to which they could pay attention. 

Fonseka mentioned that the reason why Sri Lanka was limited in the tourism industry is that the industry is working with a district map, which is outdated and ineffective in managing 
tourist activity. 

“We believe that using this new zonal map, we would be able to demarcate new zones, identify new attractions and ensure that the distance between the zones isn’t far,” he said.

In the zonal map they have created, Sri Lanka is broken down into 16 zones. This they believe, along with several other plans they have formulated, would be key in improving the overall tourism performance. 

Financial support for the tour guides and emission-free vehicles
Chauffeur Tourist Guide Lecturers’ Association (CTGLA) President, Hirantha Perera said that there were so many sectors in tourism, stressing the need for the budgetary allocations to be transparent. 

“Many people think that tourism means hotels but there are numerous service providers,” Perera said. 
“We still don’t know what benefits tourism-related service providers are receiving from these new budget allocations. All this time, what happened was when funds were released, SLAITO (Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators), who holds the most power, shared it among themselves. But small-scale businesses, medium-sized hotels, guest houses and tour guides didn’t receive them,” he accused.

Perera mentioned that they had presented several proposals to the Tourist Board during the tenure of the previous Minister of Tourism. They are yet to receive any feedback, Perera said. 

“We didn’t send any proposals to the new Tourism Minister because we weren’t sure about the Government’s status,” he said. “We are doubtful that things could change again and the country needs to be stabilized to submit proposals and move forward.” 

He highlighted that most of their members’ vehicles are now old, adding that some may have sold their vehicles, thus rendering them jobless. 

Their initial request would be for some financial support for facilities such as emission-free vehicles. “If we get them, we can do our job and it would be good for the country as well with their carbon-free footprint,” he added. 
Tour guide Heshan Wikramathilake when asked about his perspective on this told the Daily Mirror that despite whatever was said, they still haven’t approached the international market.

Involve us, and we are ready to give our maximum contribution
Fonseka explained that their problem isn’t whether 300 million is enough or not. He said that he believed the only method they have to earn direct foreign exchange is via the tourism industry. 

“Apart from the money we get from our people abroad, the next best method is tourism,” he said.  
“Sri Lanka has the same travel routes; therefore he mentioned that these routes have to be changed. 
Fonseka believes that the president’s request is a good one and hopes that the officials would take action to work towards it. 

“We are also trying our best to give our maximum contribution. We’re not sure when we’ll be able to fix an appointment but we are aware of this decision and we can and will give the President our support, with the new attractions sites and new tourism zones. 

“We can also engage the community to this and without letting the money stagnate in one place, we can check with the sustainability and build a plan which would enable the foreign currency to be spread equally among everyone,” he said.