Sri Lanka launches tourism think tank

By Cheranka Mendis

Catering to the demand for accurate research and statistics in the fast growing field of tourism, the Centre for Research and sustainable Studies in Tourism (CRST) launched on Wednesday will act as a think tank for the industry both within Sri Lanka and for South Asia as a regional resource centre.

Spearheaded by Dileep Mudadeniya, the Head of Quality Assurance, Standard, Investment, Legal and Special Projects of the Economic Development Ministry, the CRST will serve as a non profit organisation to provide decision making studies for the industry.

With the country moving forward, the tourism industry has been placed on a high pedestal by the Government as a vital industry for the economy with a target to achieve 2.5 million tourists by 2015. The achievement of the target assures foreign revenue valued at US$ 2.5 billion for the industry and employment for 20% of the local population.

“If Sri Lanka is to move forward in tourism, we have to have decision making data with us,” Mudadeniya said. “This is not the number of arrivals or the numbers that sit in front of us. Gathering, synthesising, and analysing data, as well as standalone studies catering to sustainable tourism in Sri Lanka, will no doubt help the stakeholders.”

Adopting the role of a data warehouse providing professional view points for the issues in tourism, the body aims at working with industry members to gather information and data relevant to tourism investments, gather market intelligence and collect tourism news based on the report compiled by USAID in 2006 and coordinate and promote the implementation of sustainable tourism practices. “We also hope to establish a Tourism Satellite Account system (TSA) to calculate input and output of the industry.”

CRST will work to asses Sri Lanka tourism data needs and systems, obtain stakeholder commitment, encourage expert statistical advice, develop innovative and collaborative approaches, formulate research programs and produce monthly tourism bulletins, including trend analysis, from national, international, and industry sources that focus on standardisation and benchmarking.

Reports will also be produced on sustainability, market intelligence, carrying capacity and on tourism for peace building and rehabilitation among other topics. It will also carry out an island wide survey to assess the contribution of the small and medium sector to the overall industry.

CRST consists of an advisory panel which includes industry experts such as Postgraduate Institute of Marketing (PIM) Director Prof. Uditha Liyanage, Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Tourism Policy Prof. Don Hawkins, Sri Lanka Tourism Board (SLTB) former Chairman H.M.S. Samaranayake, University of Hawaii Dean of Hospitality, Business and Legal Education Dr. Frank Haas, SLTB Former Director Research, Statistics and Marketing Nizam Lantra, SLTDA Former Director General S. Kalaiselvam and EU-Switch Asia Project Director Srilal Miththapala.

Speaking at the launch of the institute, PIM Director Prof. Uditha Liyanage commented that over the years the country has not exceeded putting in more than 0.2% of GDP for research and development. There are six key areas to gather evidence, he said. The areas were listed as identification of the battle field (or target market), positioning, product offering, pricing, message communication and developing channels to get to customers.

“We need to gather quantitative and qualitative information to make informed decisions which would benefit the industry as well as the economy of the country,” Liyanage said.

Agreeing that accurate information is key in a developing industry, Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Anura Lokuhetty noted that the industry was confused for a long time in trying to position the country. “We had too many things,” Lokuhetty said. “But what must be noted is that tag lines can be anything it is; the way you drive the slogan with all necessary ingredients is what matters.”

He assured that the industry must now to a proper SWOT analysis and find the best way to position Sri Lanka tourism to the world.

Economic Development Deputy Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena who graced the occasion as Chief Guest assured CRST of Government support. He noted that the Government needs institutes such as CRST to support its ambitions by providing a holistic image to drive industries forward.

“We have high ambitions for the sector to make Sri Lanka the most preferred destination in South Asia. This is a huge task to achieve and will take the joint effort of the public and private sector to make it work,” he said. “We salute your commitment and look forward to see the creation of well connected and well informed sector.”

 – Pix by Krishan Ranasinghe