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Envisioning the future of tourism?
By Charumini de Silva
The Government yesterday revealed that the tourism sector will be boosted via a Vision 2025 preceded by a 2020 Strategic Plan incorporating input from all industry stakeholders.
Further, 2020 will be declared Visit Sri Lanka year.
“We need to plan for the tourists coming in 2025 and not in the past. We need to become a 365-day, 24-hour tourist destination. We must attract five million tourists,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said at the second biennial Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts Future of Tourism Conference yesterday in Colombo.
He said all stakeholder input, be it big or small, will be considered when preparing the report within the next four to six weeks.
A decision to this effect and several others were made at a meeting of the tourism taskforce chaired by the Prime Minister on Tuesday.
“The future of tourism will be in Asia and in this outlook one of the best destinations will be Sri Lanka,” declared Wickremesinghe at FOT, which brought together global travel experts to share key insights among the local leisure and hospitality industry.
The Premier said that with Asia gaining centre-stage in tourism growth, Sri Lanka’s strategic location will be to the country’s advantage. In harnessing the full potential, he said the Government was committed to improving air and sea connectivity as well as modernising infrastructure such as highways.
“Sri Lanka’s strategic location makes the country attractive for cruise tourism between the Indian Ocean/Bay of Bengal and East African coast for which we also need to have our own triangle between Colombo, Hambantota and Trincomalee,” the Premier pointed out.
Tourism Minister John Amaratunga also told the FOT Conference that 2020 would be declared Visit Sri Lanka year and the Government will shortly launch a digital marketing campaign and a global advertising campaign.
“A 10-point action plan to kick-start the destination marketing program has now been finalised under the guidance of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the tourism taskforce,” Amaratunga said.
He said Vision 2025 will provide a strategic direction for the Government, industry and all stakeholders, bringing them together through what is known as rooted philosophy.
“This philosophy celebrates Sri Lanka by drawing on its people, places, heritage and values. At the core of our tourism model will be the protection and conservation of our natural resources. We are committed to ensure that the benefits of tourism flow down to the communities,” he asserted.
Noting that Vision 2025 and Tourism Strategic Plan 2020 will be the outcomes of Sri Lanka’s best tourism minds coming together, Amaratunga conveyed his appreciation to the professional local marketing team for coming forward to formulate the initial terms of reference for the global advertising campaign ‘free of charge’ on the request of the Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman that helped to save around $ 1.6 million, which otherwise would have been spent on consultancy services.
He also commended the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the World Bank Group for their assistance to the Tourism Development Ministry and its institutions during the planning process.
In addition, he acknowledged the contribution of the High Commission of Australia which was instrumental in obtaining professional and expert advisory services for Sri Lanka Tourism from Tourism Australia.
He said the one-day conference, which brought together around 350 travel and tourism industry leaders from around the world, was a much needed thought leadership initiative which would help shape Sri Lanka’s tourism industry in a crucial period ahead.
“While we look to the future it is also important to understand what is happening in the world around us. This conference will help us to learn from each other, synergise our thinking and adopt best practices. Therefore the theme ‘Technology, Innovation and Authenticity’ coinciding with World Tourism Day which falls today is indeed timely,” he added.
He also pointed out that the conference was an excellent platform to understand changing global trends, how they affect us and how we should tackle them in a responsible manner while not losing focus on the core intention of helping our communities.
Amaratunga expressed confidence that the outcomes of the Cinnamon Future of Tourism Summit 2017 will have a positive impact on Sri Lanka’s growing tourism industry, which will be the cornerstone of the country’s socioeconomic prosperity in the time to come.
