Three top Sri Lankan travel personalities quitting
View(s):Top hotels see low occupancy despite rise in arrivals
Three of Sri Lanka’s top travel executives – Gehan Perera and Ravi Subramanian from Aitken Spence Travels and Michael Elias from Walkers Tours are stepping down from their positions for different reasons.
They are resigning from end December. Mr Perera, Managing Director of Aitken Spence Travels who along with Mr Subramaniam has 34 years in the business having joined straight from school, said he was migrating to Australia – to join the family.“I am joining (German operator) TUI in Australia and would be handling sales and marketing for 21 countries including Sri Lanka,” he told the Business Times. “My family is in Australia and this has been a long-term plan.” Mr Perera is also resigning as a board member of Aitken Spence Group. TUI has a 50 per cent stake in Aitken Spence Travels.
Mr Subramaniam, currently Chief Operating Officer at Aitken Spence Travels, is also migrating to Australia.
Mr Elias, CEO Walkers Tours also with more than two decades in the industry, is stepping down and plans to get involved in travel consultancy assignments
In the meantime, Sri Lanka is set to end the year (2012) with a million tourists, up from the targeted 950,000 and is eyeing 1.2 million arrivals next year, tourism industry officials said.
However most the hotels, including those in Colombo, have complained of low occupancies this month. Industry officials said many of the visitors are now opting for (cheaper) home stays which account for 30 per cent of the market unlike in the past when many frequented 2-5 star hotels.
“We are seeing a 20 per cent drop in room nights at graded establishments (1-5 star hotels) this year. Thus if a million tourists have visited Sri Lanka, some 200,000 are not staying in hotels,” said a veteran in the industry.
Sri Lankan arrivals in January-November 2012 were 758,458, up 33.1 per cent from the same 2011 period. The total number of arrivals in 2011 was 855,975. On December 18, Sri Lanka welcomed the 950,000th arrival – a couple from Poland.
Industry sources said that the market segment is changing and growth next year is expected from India (Sri Lanka’s biggest source market), China, Russia, Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia and the USA which would fill gaps in the European market particularly the UK which is not growing.
They said the German market has improved and is showing growth. According to Sri Lankan Tourism statistics, arrivals in 2014 are expected to reach 1.6 million, in 2015 – 2 million and 2016 – 2.5 million. Top hoteliers have been sceptical about these figures though tourist arrivals this year have been much more than the Government target.
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