Travel industry – Govt. tete-a-tete on Kandy at Berlin travel fair
View(s):Sri Lanka’s tourism industry was able to clear the air directly with their international counterparts following a meeting with the authorities during the ITB fair in Berlin last week – at the same time communal tensions flared up in Kandy.
With most cancellations happening in the Kandy hotels alone some other hoteliers opined there could be further cancellations in the future as well.
Due to the islandwide state of emergency being declared by the government, visitors to the ITB fair and stall of the Sri Lanka pavilion had made several queries on the situation for which state officials and government representatives had been ready to take remedial action to douse the uncertainty among travellers and tour operators.
Foreign travel agents at the ITB were concerned about the state of emergency declared but authorities and local industry were able to quell the concerns by noting that it was for a brief period of only 10 days, which was imposed as a precautionary measure.
Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga said that when the delegation was participating at the ITB travel fair questions were posed to them concerning the situation in Sri Lanka. “We told them there was no problem and things are normal,” the minister said.
Now he noted the country needs to prove that everything is back to normal and pointed out that there was a need to give publicity of the situation in Sri Lanka through the upcoming road shows and advertising programmes likely to happen in the future.
The minister pointed out that while they were still unable to get a proper count by Tuesday of the correct situation they had come to learn of some cancellations that had been made in the aftermath of the incidents that occurred in Kandy.
Minister Amaratunga explained that the digital marketing campaign scheduled to be implemented by end April, the global promotional campaign scheduled to follow thereafter and the CNN advertising would all be able to position the country in the correct light.
Kandy Hoteliers Association President Samantha Ratnayaka told the Business Times on Tuesday that they would be having discussions with the authorities in Kandy and a meeting was scheduled with Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayaka on the current situation.
He pointed out that Kandy is being promoted as a destination and noted that having visited the areas where tensions arose in the district it was evident that they were not on the main road but about 10 to 25 km away from most towns.
Mr. Ratnayaka explained that there was normalcy in Kandy since Sunday with shops opening up and everyone “feeling more comfortable” and added that even the cultural shows recommenced.
Kandy’s peak season for overseas travellers is the month of March and it is believed that despite the cancellations the industry should be able to get back to normalcy within two months.
Hoteliers Association President Sanath Ukwatte told the Business Times on Tuesday that the industry hopes the government would now fast-track the promotional campaigns and the CNN advertising campaign as well.
“We would like some presence in the international media. Now with this situation in Kandy I think we need to expedite this marketing initiative and the CNN campaign is one way of addressing the issue of our marketing needs,” he said.
Meanwhile, the industry is expected to meet on Friday to come up with ideas and obtain studies from industry perspectives on the developments that have taken place.