“Overdevelopment, shortage of trained employees will affect hospitality industry”: Dr. Jayawardena

Text and pix by P.D. De Silva 

Dr. Chandana Jayawardena, an expert in the hospitality industry, said that lack of vision and a detailed master plan which has resulted in overdevelopment and a shortage of trained employees, are the two biggest problems the hospitality industry in Sri Lanka will face.

He said that the Government should have some sort of control on overdevelopment as it leads to pricing wars. He also said that even though he sees an improvement in quality and quantity of hotels, the service has lagged. 

Dr. Chandana Jayawardena

Reiterating that the biggest single challenge the hotel industry in Sri Lanka is facing is the quality and quantity of employees, Dr. Jayawardena said that even though it was fashionable to enter hotel school when he was a youth, it was not so now. He said that the present day youth have so many other opportunities and furthermore, parents dissuade their daughters from seeking employment in the hospitality industry.

He suggested that the Government should either put forward a clear strategy to attract Sri Lankans serving in star-class hotels abroad to return or treble the output of Sri Lanka’s hotel schools. He pointed out that at present these schools produce only about 20% of the requirement and recommended that incentives could be given to large hotels to expand their training department into hospitality schools.

He also said that the shortage would open the doors for large hotel chains to recruit foreign workers.

Dr. Chandana Jayawardena currently domiciled in Canada, is a tourism educator, consultant, and researcher author. He has served as the General Manager of seven five-star hotels in Sri Lanka and abroad and university professor.