Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Wednesday, 12 November 2014 00:34 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Organised by the Daily FT in partnership with Viluxur Holidays, the evening forum at Hilton Colombo Residences will see Singapore-based renowned tourism practitioner, lecturer, qualified trainer and corporate leader Nisha Barkathunnisha sharing key learnings from and trends in emerging markets with a special focus on the city state as well as riding the Chinese tourist boom.
Nisha has over 25 years of extensive experience in management in the tourism and hospitality industry. She holds a Masters in Business Administration specialising in hospitality and tourism management from the Nanyang Business School, Singapore, and is currently pursuing her PhD with Australia’s Murdoch University in the area of tourism education and ethics.
According to Nisha, travel and tourism patterns have changed significantly over the last few years. The market segments and their needs have changed and destination marketing organisations must reinvent themselves in order to survive and thrive amidst these dynamic shifts.
Her presentation is designed to provide insights into the key emerging trends for 2015 and beyond, and what opportunities could be seized for Sri Lanka’s tourism and hospitality marketing.
She will highlight emerging markets with a special focus on riding the Chinese wave. Best practices from Singapore as a successful tourism destination will be shared during the session. China is the biggest source market for Singapore tourism.
Drawing on her expertise, Nisha is engaged in regional consultancy work in the area of tourism development. She provided her professional services to the Saigon Tourist Group Vietnam to assist in the training and development of the travel intermediaries and hotels in charting their marketing strategies in light of the global trends and challenges. Currently, Nisha is appointed by the Tourism Council of Bhutan to provide marketing and management consul to the destination marketing teams for their 5 year tourism plan, developing a strategic plan for the capacity planning and development of the Bhutan tourism workforce to enhance the quality of service provision to high yield tourists. In addition, Nisha has extended her services to high end hotels in Bhutan in the area of marketing and professional training of excellent customer service. Nisha is instrumental towards Bhutan establishing itself strongly as a destination in Singapore and has successfully launched a Bhutan Night promotional campaign in Singapore which created media and trade publicity.
As a management consultant and tourism expert, Nisha brings her knowledge and expertise to selected luxury and special interest tour operators in Sri Lanka. She is actively involved in her contributions towards market research on tourists’ motivation and needs, international supplier collaboration and management, marketing and product management as well as service professionalism and capacity building.
Joining the discussion will be an expert panel comprising Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Bashwara Gunarathne, SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena, Tourist Hotels Association President Hiran Cooray, Inbound Tour Operators Past President Nilmin Nanayakkara and Airport & Aviation Services (S/L) Ltd. Acting Head of Marketing Rohan Manukulasooriya.
Principal sponsor of the evening forum from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. is Reefs Edge the 23-room luxury hotel at Uswetakeiyawa (www.reefsedge.lk), Co-sponsor is Harpo’s Cafés and Restaurants (www.harposonline.com), Venue Partner is Hilton Colombo Residences, Creative partner is BBDO and Event partner is Event Productions.
For her dedication towards the development of the tourism and hospitality industry, Nisha was awarded the Outstanding Tourism Trainer 2010 accolade by Workforce Development Authority (WDA) for delivering high quality training. This award recognises trainers who have demonstrated a high level of competency in training and constantly received positive feedback from both trainees and companies. Nisha was also awarded Excellence in Teaching Award 2011 by the University of Newcastle, the first faculty member from the Singapore campus to attain the prestigious award. She was also awarded Teaching Excellence Award 2012 from the PSB Academy for her dedication and professionalism in teaching. Nisha has been nominated for the Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award 2014 at the Murdcoh University (Australia).
