Australian Awards Sustainable Tourism Development Training

Sri Lanka has a shortage of skilled staff necessary to support the projected growth of tourism. Training programs such as the Australian Awards Sustainable Tourism Development Short Course are helping to develop the skills needed.

Tourism in Sri Lanka is growing rapidly and providing benefits to the economy. In 2018 tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka reached an all-time high of 2,116,407 in 2017, according to the latest data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. 

To maintain this success, Sri Lanka needs people to develop government policy, train the workforce, develop new tourism experiences and provide great customer service.

The Australian Government is supporting the growth of tourism in Sri Lanka through several projects including an Australia Awards Short course on Sustainable Tourism Development. In 2018, 25 middle management tourism industry professionals visited Australia to see at firsthand how the sector operates. The participants were from the Sri Lankan Government, training institutes and private sector.  

Each participant completed a project during the course. These ranged from planning for tourism at Bopath Falls to promoting the east coast online as a place to visit. The participants tackled issues involving gender, disability and social inclusion in the tourism sector. 

Other projects targeted distributing waste food from hotels to local poor families, developing accommodation standards for disabled visitors, and creating a green label for the Sri Lankan tourism sector.A representative of Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort worked on training local people as tour guides.  

The participants were impressed by their visit to Australia and especially their visit to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. Australia is experiencing growth in visitor numbers from China and the participants were able to see firsthand how Chinese tour groups experienced the country.

Participants commented that they also remembered the Gold Coast beaches, the cleanliness of the parks. Others noted:“The best part was seeing the aboriginal dancing in Cairns” and “I remember the helicopter ride over the Great Barrier Reef.”

Skills for Inclusive Growth Program (an AusAid funded program) Business Development Service Manager ThangavelSakthivell said: “After the course and visits we did in Australia, I was able to see unseen opportunities. Due to this eye opening activity I came back and started to explore the available opportunities. Based on the experience and guidance I got I was able to add more new activities. As I am working in very remote places where conflict was there for more than three decades, this helps me to support vulnerable communities. I am in the process of developing activities related to remote rural setups which will be very interesting to visitorssuch as hunting, honey collection, walking on fire or fire treading, these activities weredesigned after seeing Aboriginal people in Australia.”

UvaWellassa University of Sri Lanka Lecturer Chandi Karunarathne commented: “The course was well structured and organised to give a strong fragment on the sustainable application of tourism industry, emphasising the importance of awareness and engagement of all levels of stakeholders in the industry. I was ventured into different realms of sustainable tourism during my visit to Australia as a part of short course award on Sustainable Tourism in March2018. The efficacious experiences I gathered during the visit from various destinations including Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Sun Shine Coast, and Gold Coast absolutely made me to find new ways and means to utilise the resources in Sri Lankan tourism industry in a more productive and effective manner. We also had several of more productive facilitated class discussions in University of Sun Shine Coast and Gold Coast Campus of Griffith University which made for great student engagement with number of resource persons including researchers and practitioners representing all areas in tourism industry. Of course we took the time to validate one another’s thoughts and ideas. For me, this feeling of engagement was what has inspired my overall gains of this short course award. Despite all that, I was enjoying my visit at Australia. I believe this was an amazing experience for all the participants from Sri Lanka. Finally, making our own Return to Work Plan (RWP), I, as a university academic used all my experiences and fresh breaths to develop a successful project to bridge a new beginning in tourism education in Sri Lanka.”

The Australian Awards Sustainable Tourism Development Training was organised by two Australian universities, Griffith University and University of the Sunshine Coast – both located in key tourism destinations. 

The Minister for Tourism and Religious Affairs thanked the Australian Government for its ongoing support.