Ceylon Roots launches online logistics platform to support tourism industry

The Ceylon Roots maintenance crew disinfects the vehicles regularly

Ceylon Roots – the inbound tour arm of Browns Group – has launched a comprehensive online logistics platform dedicated to hoteliers and chauffer-guides to provide transport facilities for their guests. 

Sri Lanka reopened its borders to international tourists early this year with a series of strict protocols and guidelines to ensure the safety of both visitors and residents as tourism resumes. According to the country's current tourism policy, tour operators and accommodation providers who wish to welcome foreign guests are required to obtain the 'Safe & Secure' certification by acting in compliance with the COVID-19 Health Protocols and the Tourism Operational Guidelines. 

The certified hoteliers, tour operators, and travel agents should arrange transport for travellers and have an advance transport plan for the first 14 days as the guests move between a variety of 'Safe and Secure' hotels and visit approved tourist sites, travelling in a secure bio-bubble. 

Travellers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (those who have had the prescribed dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine, with the last dose administered at least two weeks before travelling to Sri Lanka) have even greater freedom, as they are neither required to do a PCR test nor undergo quarantine. So fully-vaccinated travellers are free to explore the island as they wish.

This advanced transportation arrangement ensures that there will be no mixing of groups during the guest's journey, which is crucial in creating a safe travel experience. The Ceylon Roots online transport portal has been specially introduced to support hoteliers and their transport suppliers in arranging transport facilities for their guests. 

Although Ceylon Roots is equipped with its own trained and certified drivers and chauffer-guides as well as a fleet of vehicles, the partnering parties are also given the opportunity to sign up their own personnel (driver/chauffer-guides) and vehicles (subject to minimum standards) under the service. The newly enrolled personnel will be given a comprehensive training to ensure that they will be working in strict conformity with the guidelines implemented by the authorities: Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority & Ministry of Health). When you provide transport facilities to your guests through Ceylon Roots, your guests' safety and comfort is taken seriously.   

This portal is ideal for hotels which are not able to integrate their own transport management system to their respective websites as the Ceylon Roots system can be added as a white-label widget to any website free of charge. With this, guests can book their transport options at the time of making their hotel booking (mandatory under the current COVID-19 regulations) in a hassle-free manner.

On the other hand, this initiative paves the way to formalise the logistic arm of the tourism industry, which is a timely requirement. Most importantly, Ceylon Roots is determined to strengthen the tourism industry and its key players, significantly affected by the downturn in travel. As a cross-cutting industry, the tourism sector's value chain touches almost all the aspects of the country's economy. 

Current issues such as temporary closures and retrenchment of workers have sent ripples through the industry. Those employed at small and medium scale tourism enterprises are experiencing many hardships along with independent parties such as chauffeur-guides and drivers. Moreover, it is believed that this, in turn, will make exploring the island convenient for tourists, in compliance with the health and safety guidelines introduced by the Government.

Together with the Government, Sri Lanka Tourism has taken various measures to revive the tourism industry of the country. Sri Lanka Tourism and SriLankan Airlines have partnered to attract more visitors from last month onwards, with the launch of a ‘buy one-get one free’ offer. Recently, the island was named as one of the ‘Top 25 Islands in the World’ by the renowned travel magazine ‘Travel + Leisure’.  

Commenting on the launch, Browns Leisure Chief Executive Officer – Inbound/Outbound and Chief Business Development Officer Dishan Perera stated: “Partnering with Ceylon Roots comes with a host of benefits, including a hassle-free transport management system without any cost. The partnering parties will able to generate additional revenue by offering highly reliable hotel transfer options to their clients, under the current operating model. Also, Ceylon Roots welcomes onboard the hotels that wish to manage their travel counter using this technology, which will allow them to arrange all transport requirements remotely, with minimum staff involvement.” 

Ceylon Roots invites all industry stakeholders—Destination Management Companies, travel agents and hoteliers—to partner with them in offering logistic facilities to their guests. Any partner could write to [email protected] and contact the Ceylon Roots Logistic Department for more information. The Ceylon Roots Logistics Department can be contacted on +94773876677 (Achalanga) and +94772 488559 (Sanjaya) as well. 

Ceylon Roots is one of the leading Destination Management Companies in Sri Lanka, which generally handles over 25,000 passengers annually, with a diversified market portfolio covering most of the source markets to Sri Lanka such as China, India, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, the Middle East, Russia, and Ukraine as well as some of the developing markets. Ceylon Roots is also one of the first companies to move ahead with innovative technology, having a dedicated B2B platform to perform contracting, selling and distributing activities to worldwide partners (wholesalers). 

The safety of the guest remains the top priority 

Comfortable, luxury vehicles to ensure a great experience