Mart on ‘Tourism Revival’ in January

By Cheranka Mendis

President SLAITO Nilmin Nanayakkara (third from right) outlines plans for the meet. Others from left are SLAITO  Secretary T.M.F. Packeer, Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, Tourist Hotels Association President  Anura Lokuhetty  and Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism President Siri de Silva – Pic by Upul Abayasekera

The big and small of the tourism industry are all set to meet in January to widen their contacts, promote products and solve all issues in the field.‘Sancharaka Udawa,’ a tourism meet mart organised at a cost of Rs. 1.8 million by the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) will be held on 27 January at the Ceylon Continental, to build ground for the unexposed or small and medium entrepreneurs to join the mainstream tourism industry.

Launched on Wednesday, the mart looks at introducing new products and services to the industry to meet its unmet needs.

President of SLAITO Nilmin Nanayakkara speaking at the launch stated that the idea of a meet mart was mooted one month ago and that it would increase logistics in transportation and accommodation sectors.

“There is still a need for an approximate 200 more 15-seater vans and 50 to 75 29-seater coaches. We expect that the event would propel the increase of the logistic sector,” Nanayakkara said.

Introducing foreign language speaking personnel to the industry, creating awareness of the various loan schemes available for SME development by a few State banks and insurance companies will also be featured at the event.

“We are also extending opportunities to develop the entertainment sector such as restaurants, bars, coffee houses, pool bars, nightclubs and so on,” he said. Apart from the above, the event also extends invitation to boutique hotels, villas, guest houses, bungalows and heritage properties as well as home stays in beautiful locations to be a part of the event.

“Tourism is an industry that everyone has set their eyes on. The industry is looked at as a sector that could become the driving force of the country’s economic development,” Chairman Sri Lanka Tourism Nalaka Godahewa said.

The industry, which experienced a 43 per cent growth rate this year, must now concentrate on reaping the maximum benefit from tourists instead of only keeping tabs on the number of arrivals. “The challenge is to get the economic benefit from the increasing number of tourists by adding more value to the available tourism products,” he asserted.

The event therefore is a timely one and would act as a mechanism to bridge the small holders with the top notch businesses in the industry. New networks and relationships could be built, widening the receiver community of the benefits from the sector.

Deputy Minister of Economic Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena confirmed that the target was for one out of seven people to benefit from the industry in five years.

Claiming that everything is going according to plan with regard to the 10 islands from Kalpitiya which were offered on bid and received a large number of international collaboration investment interests to the one-stop-shop being activated, the industry will target the highest arrivals within the next year, which has been tagged as the ‘Visit Sri Lanka’ year.

Sri Lanka Tourism is supporting the project with a sponsorship of Rs. 75,000. Overall the organisers are expecting close to 100-150 stalls by institutions and individuals at the event. A nominal fee of Rs. 5,000 is expected from each participant.