I have fallen in love with Sri Lanka – Kotler

World’s marketing guru Dr. Philip Kotler last night confessed that he has fallen in love with Sri Lanka, a remark which is likely to be a big boost for the post-war prospects for the country’s tourism industry.

“I have fallen in love with Sri Lanka already,” Kotler declared on stage at the beginning of a talk before a packed Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM)-organised CEOs Forum at the Water’s Edge.

It was a fitting finale from him after spending four days in Sri Lanka in what was the 80 year old’s first visit. After arriving on Friday he visited Sigiriya on Sunday, met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, addressed a public sector forum involving Ministers and MPs, as well as a sold out 1,100 people packed Knowledge Forum yesterday morning.

Kotler also repeated his now famous definition of SL acronym in Sri Lanka “So Lovely.”

Focusing on his core topic, he urged CEOs to become more stakeholder centric than mere shareholder driven. “If you enhance value to stakeholders, automatically there will be higher shareholder value,” Kotler added.

Driving home the point for greater recognition for marketing in boardrooms as well as corporate strategy, Kotler stressed “Marketing is everything” for any organization. He said that marketing creates value, engine of a company and drives growth.