Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts to mark World Tourism Day with tourism summit

The local and international speakers who will be addressing the Cinnamon FOT summit and two University of Colombo representatives who will be drafting the white paper of the key finding in the summit – Pic by Upul Abayasekara

By Shehana Dain

Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts will mark ‘World Tourism Day 2015’ with the first Future of Tourism and Responsible Tourism for Driving Revenue Summit today at the Cinnamon Lakeside.

The event will feature 10 prominent speakers representing the various global trends of travel and tourism with a special focus on driving Sri Lanka’s hospitality industry in a strategic economic direction.

The summit will discuss relevant and contemporary topics highlighting the importance of accountability in revenue generation as an essential component of the future of international travel and tourism. During the symposium a distinguished panel of global industry professionals and experts on sustainability and responsible travel will speak on the current and future trends in tourism and the importance of responsibility, resource efficiency and risk management, enhancing brand equity through responsible tourism, community engagement and workforce motivation, working with sustainable travel companies, growth in experiential tourism, the relationship between wellness tourism and responsible tourism and the accessibility of potential target markets.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Vice Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, will deliver the keynote speech at the summit.  Other experts include Adviser to the World Economic Forum on Shared Economy and Shareable Cities April Rinne and academic on the future of travel and tourism, Dr. Ian Yeoman. The world’s only professional futurologist specialising in travel and tourism, Conservationist and head of the Department of Zoology at the University of Colombo Prof. Sarath Kotagama, partner of the Swiss Hospitality Solutions AG and a lecturer at University of Salzburg  Wilhelm K. Weber, Euromonitor International Senior Research Analyst Shabori Das, Prof. Dr. Roland Conrady, Director of the world’s largest tourism convention ‘ITB Berlin’ and President of the German Society of Tourism Research, Robert Govers. He is a lecturer of the UNESCO World Heritage Work Master’s program.

Speaking to the Daily FT, Swiss Hospitality Solutions AG Wilhelm Weber said: “For me as a Swiss national it’s all about a country’s homegrown ideas; that’s how we grew as a country. What I have to say is keep the import of ideas to a minimum.”

“With big International players coming in there’s a big risk for a country to be overrun by them because some of these powerful hotel chains will expect local governments to build the infrastructure that is from taxpayer money and this would cripple government funds.”

He said that in countries like Egypt powerful foreign players had come in and taken full control of their tourism industry. He went on to say that the primary after-effect that could occur from such transactions is the obstruction of entrepreneurship that grows within the country which can severely affect the sustainability balance in the long run.

However, University of Colombo Department of Zoology Head Prof. Sarath Kotagama highlighted that when it comes to foreign investments the big investors conform to rules and regulations much better than investors with smaller projects. 

“Investors who pump in a lot of cash have a lot to worry about. They need to make sure all that money will be spent effectively. So for now, as far as the rules and regulations are concerned, what I have seen is that they adhere to it far better than the ones undertaking smaller projects. They try several escape routes to get away from the authorities but ultimately they don’t survive,” Kotagama stated.

JKH Vice President and Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts Head of Brand Marketing Dileep Mudadeniya stated that Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has seen tourist arrival numbers spike to 1.8 million since the end of the three-decade-long war. 

According to him the tourism industry is the only segment of the economy which can continue to play a growth role for national GDP in the long run. 

“The main thing we should do as an industry is build the country’s image. We offer a lot as an island nation but we should deliver the message with clarity.”

Citing statistics from ticket sales data, he added that the historical site of Sigiriya only sees 28% of the country’s tourist visits while national parks get 18% and the elephant orphanage in Pinnawala 30%.

“This is what we should look into: how we brand ourselves to sell. Within 50 km the diversity changes from mountains to sandy beaches; that’s something we should harp on about. An individual can cover a lot of ground within seven days. Sri Lanka is only 60,000 square feet.”

The Future of Tourism Summit is powered by SriLankan Airlines, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and supported by the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Landor Associates and 230 Interactive Digital Media.