Holistic tourism product

THE wealth of money that can be gained from tourism is on the minds of all Sri Lankans, yet there are many missing pieces to creating the perfect product for the world.

 With the intention of fixing this lapse Cabinet on Wednesday gave approval for the formulation of a combined programme for the promotion of tourism in Sri Lanka, with the aim of phasing out usage of different themes and logos. This is seen as the latest step to building a unified brand for Sri Lanka tourism following the tag line of “Small Miracle” being unceremoniously dumped after being criticised by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

This would result in a range of organisations working together to present Sri Lanka’s tourism identity under one theme. The Cabinet paper was presented by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa and detailed the steps that would be taken by the Government to promote the industry.

Accordingly approval was given to formulate a strategy for building Sri Lanka’s identity under one single theme through a combined effort to various state and private sector organisations which have relevance to the fields of tourism, foreign investment and export industries.

Under this approval the Cultural Ministry, National Heritage Ministry, Environment Ministry, Wildlife and Agrarian Services Ministry, National Zoological Gardens Department, Civil Aviation Ministry, SriLankan Airlines, Mihin Lanka, Board of Investment, Urban Development Authority, Tourist Board, National Gem and Jewellery Authority, Tea Board, Export Development Board, Sports Ministry and Sri Lanka Cricket along with other organisations will work with the Economic Development Ministry to launch combined publicity programmes to build a single image of Sri Lanka.

It also stated that Cabinet approval was given to select promotional organisations representing all agencies and launch the Tourism Promotion Programme (TPP). Cabinet also agreed to allow the Economic Affairs Ministry to enter into an integrated agreement with all relevant public and private sector organisations to implement TPP and incur requisite expenditure in a combined effort.  

Few would find fault with this except that dealing with the negative side of tourism is not at all addressed. The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) has attempted to hold discussions with tourism officials on the negative aspects of abuse and paedophilia as there is growing evidence that increased arrivals are also feeding into this scourge but there has been no response. Billions of dollars are being invested in posh hotels but not even 1% of that is being used to protect the future generation of Sri Lanka.  

Poor records of child protection also go into forming the image of a country and affect the “product” that we are offering the world. Police, local and international, need to work with tourism authorities to ensure that offenders do not see Sri Lanka as a welcome getaway for their nefarious activities. Sri Lanka must be protected from what is referred to as “skin tourism” where prostitution can lead the way to human smuggling and slavery. All aspects that Sri Lanka has managed to avoid in the large scale up to now.       

Environment protection is also a must and directly linked to the tourism product that we would want to show the world. Even though Govt. institutions have been included in this list they must also be empowered to work with tourism companies so that conservation can be looked at as a business venture rather than a hurdle. Educating the masses on how to treat tourists, changing attitudes and providing protections for both visitors and locals deserve serious consideration under this programme as well.