Tourism under par on potential

By Charumini de Silva

In a hard-hitting evaluation of the tourism sector, top private sector professional Kishu Gomes yesterday criticised the achievements of the sector and insisted stronger polices were needed to push the country forward in world rankings. 

He pulled no punches while delivering the keynote address at the 38th graduation ceremony of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM), the country’s leading hospitality education provider. 

Presenting his evaluation on the tourism sector’s achievements in the past decade, Gomes stressed the country had failed to meet major expectations.

“While we have been boasting of development, progression, success achieved, numbers going up, when I actually looked at the tourism and travel contribution to the nation, GDP was 8% in 2005, and last year it has only gone up to 11.4%. Basically, over the past 11 years the contribution has only increased by 3.4%,” he said.

In terms of the competitiveness of Sri Lanka in global rankings, he said the country was ranked 64th this year and 63rd last year. 

“The countries within this region which are below us like Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan are much above us and India is ranked 52nd. There is tremendous competition. I would like to suggest to the audience to not be happy with what we have achieved over the years; we have a long way to go before we can boast of success,” he told the gathering.

He was candid about his appraisal of the tourism industry’s achievements, pointing out that Sri Lanka’s growth had not rested on “solid foundations”.

“We boast of all the tangible things around us including nice beaches, tea gardens and cultural sites and so on, but I challenge you, go to all the websites you can lay your hands on and see what ranking we have in each of these tangible elements. We are not featured in the top 85 beaches in the world, we are not within the best 10 teagardens in the world, but we are promoting. If we continue to sell and promote products and use technical things, we will not be able to accomplish what we want to achieve.” 

Gomes suggested that  it was vital for the industry to put all these tangible things together, package them well and sell them as a brand, pointing out that it is where Sri Lanka would have accountability and which gives a lot of scope for the country to offer value to fetch the right price.

According to his observations, the real potential of the country’s tourism industry coupled with the right strategy could make the contribution from the sector to the GDP reach as high as 25%. 

He pointed out that selling products would have no value in the world in the near future as 17% of the decisions the world makes on a daily basis are based on emotions.

“It is for emotions that people pay a premium price and that comes with creativity. It is all about synchronising and synergising all your actions, departments coming together and giving that unparalleled feeling to tourists. We use our heads, we use all the intelligence we have; but finally it is the heart that tells you what to buy. That is why emotions are very relevant to the development of the tourism industry,” he said.

Despite the great hospitality of our country and its people being praised, Gomes said that many industries and institutions related to hospitality have failed miserably to reach international standards.  

“As a frequent traveler and for the love of our brands and services I choose SriLankan Airlines. Although they pride themselves on top class hospitality, all the other airlines have outperformed it by leaps and bounds. We have been boasting about the great hospitality we have, but I think we are stuck as a nation.

“This is the reality of our country. We have all the reasons to be happy with our legacy and all of that, but we must use that to go forward and challenge the rest of the world. That comes with the realisation of the world around us and right strategy to take those challenges up,” he emphasised.

He also said that the country has failed in developing the skills of the people although the country is in a better position in terms of knowledge expansion. “In terms of skills, presentation, first impression, we have a long way to go as a country.”

Gomes also said Sri Lanka has a suicidal HR strategy. “We have an HR strategy where we import CEOs, GMs, senior managers. Depending on which industry, establishment and profitability, a CEO coming from the western world gets between Rs. 10 million and Rs. 20 million a month, whereas we are exporting housemaids, carpenters, plumbers, drivers and so on. When we export this category of people each one will bring in on a net basis Rs. 40,000-Rs. 50,000 a month. Professionals like you and I have to stop this trend if we are going to achieve economic independence for our motherland.

“We have a psyche in Sri Lanka where we try to share the pie. We create competition across industries, whenever we have a win as professionals we tend to celebrate. But we should not celebrate until such time as we stop bringing value from outside of Sri Lanka. We should also be able to export GMs to those star-class hotel chains in various parts of the world. We have to keep increasing those numbers,” he added.

Giving advice to the fresh graduates, Gomes said it was important for the younger generation to know the reality so everyone could be accountable and contribute to have a quality life. 

“Make a start with what you have acquired. Keep evolving, adding to your knowledge with more commercial value and keep gaining knowledge to fetch the right price; that’s paramount. You are not competitive enough yet; the differentiation comes from the will within you. Be aggressive in that approach. Be determined. Think as a Sri Lankan to create a better country. I am not happy with the numbers today, but I am aware of the potential and I am glad that SLITHM is taking the right steps, giving knowledge in a manner in which we will be able to elevate our ranking in global competitiveness.”