JKH Deputy Chief calls for smarter tourism promotion

By Shehana Dain

Leisure industry-rich JKH Deputy Chairman Ajith D. Gunewardene yesterday called for better and smarter ways of tourism promotion in keeping with the country’s current and planned capacity as well as its resources. 

 “Today’s promotional strategies are not the old-fashioned above-the-line advertising media promotions. That in fact tends to be a waste of money. What really works is below-the-line promotion of the country,” Gunewardene said at the launch of the international-style "Future of Tourism Summit" which is to be held on 28 September in Colombo.

In that context, he emphasised: “As a major stakeholder, as one of the parties which has the most to gain and the most to lose, I must say that conferences and events of this nature have a significant impact on promotions.”

Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts last year hosted Asia’s first Travel Bloggers Conference (TBC)  partnering with SriLankan Airlines and the Travel Bloggers Association (TBA).

Commenting on the impact the event had on the industry, Gunewardene said: “Subtle promotion of the country has a massive impact. For example I think the Travel Bloggers Conference held last year had a reach of about 30 million people or more than that. This was achieved by one small conference. That talkathon had a multimillion-dollar impact.”

He also opined that the promotions by SLCB so far had that impact and tourist arrival growth supported this assertion.

He stressed that while promotional campaigns were underway, what the country could not afford at the moment was a massive rush of tourism. “The country and the infrastructure can’t cater to massive volumes of tourists overnight. So our promotional campaign has to be managed in such a manner that benefits reach the table. We can of course do things better and raise the bar, that’s what we should do collectively.”

Another factor Gunewardene pondered on was the private sector’s significant contribution to the industry. “As a private sector-driven industry I don’t think it’s correct for us to look to the Government to do our work. We will partner the public sector. We want the public sector to have an overall policy framework under which we can operate.” 

Commenting on the importance of stakeholders collaborating, he said: “Tourism is a massive industry and we have barely begun. Before we destroy what is great we believe this is the time to create something unique and sustainable for the country and the industry in the long-term. We learnt that our competitors are our partners and we want to add value to their products. That’s what all stakeholders should do.

“As the market leader of the industry we have heavily invested in Sri Lanka. Our view is that for the industry to grow as a whole we can’t work in isolation. We believe that the direction that Sri Lanka decides to take in this regard will have an enormous impact on our investments. Therefore we would like to influence this direction and share knowledge.” In that context he said the upcoming Tourism Summit would be highly relevant.