AITKEN SPENCE HOTEL HOLDINGS

Q: What are your key achievements in 2022?

A: Aitken Spence Hotels recorded a significant profit compared to a loss in the previous year. The diversity of our portfolio and expertise in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Oman and India are critical factors that enabled us to show resilience amidst multiple local crises and global headwinds.

Maintaining a strong brand in the market whilst customising offerings that appeal to diverse markets and target audiences, coupled with our strong sustainable tourism value proposition through sustainable practices, have collectively been a driving force in positioning the company as a front-runner in the sector’s recovery.

Aitken Spence Hotels ended 2022 on a high note by winning five Gold, four Silver and four Bronze awards at the prestigious Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup. Our flagship Maldives resort, Heritance Aarah, took home 13 medals!

Q: And what is the role of corporates in Sri Lanka’s economic revival?

A: As the economy totters on the brink, navigating our crises will require long overdue and wide-ranging economic reforms for sustainable growth. The corporate sector must restructure its focus on global markets rather than being domestic focused, to keep growing.

Corporates must look at products and services that are at the right price and of the highest quality, which requires them to be more efficient, innovative and use state-of-the-art technology to cater offerings that are operationally efficient to attract a global audience with commercial interest.

This requires substantial capital investments and larger gestation periods, which of course cannot be borne by corporates alone. The government must undertake the responsibility to create an investment friendly environment with economic stability and stable fiscal policies.

Q: How has your sector been impacted by the country’s prevailing economic climate?

A: Last year was one of the most challenging yet for the tourism industry and the hospitality sector.

There was a direct impact on tourist arrivals due to negative travel advisories imposed by certain countries and adverse media campaigns – including negative portrayal of Sri Lanka through social media and other platforms.

Moreover, fuel shortages and high inflation led to lower spending capacity, impacting domestic tourism.

Retaining key talent in the hospitality sector has also been extremely challenging due to migration.

Q: What are your medium-term priorities?

A: Given the challenges of the past years, as well as the prevalent conditions, our medium-term priority lies in consolidating and improving our financial strength. We look forward to welcoming more targeted businesses to the hotels and towards stabilising the company financially.

In line with the same, we will be selective with capital expenditure and focus on service efficiencies with a view to maintaining product standards.

Stasshani Jayawardena
Chairperson – Aitken Spence Hotel Managements
Executive Director – Aitken Spence
Head of Tourism and Leisure

Q: How should corporates evolve with the changing demographics of consumer markets?

A: Gen Z grew up during the fine-tuning stages of modern technological wonders, whereas ‘Gen Alpha’ gets to experience technology in its fully developed state, which implies that this generation is considerably more tech savvy.

Whilst the oldest of Gen Alpha (as children of Gen Z) are between the ages of nine and 10, this opportunity to live in a tech savvy world will alter travel trends considerably in the years to come.

With Gen Z, we can already see travel patterns favouring digital adaptability, virtual travelling and so on. They also crave more experience-based travel as immersive explorers.

As corporates, we must embrace these wants and needs, and look at curating meaningful, shared experiences, work on our storytelling, and create a brand tone of voice that supports their need for information on principles such as sustainability, gender equity, community empowerment, celebrating localities and so on, which are some of the key components of our brand value set.

Q: What is your assessment of the level of technology integration in your sector?

A: Technology integration is quite poor presently, in hospitality and tourism. There is great scope for improvement and investment, which will undoubtedly create many more opportunities for us to compete on a global scale – with leading destinations, and products and services, in line with global trends and standards.

With Gen Z, we can already see travel patterns favouring digital adaptability, virtual travelling and so on. They also crave more experience-based travel as immersive explorers

Telephone 2308408 | Email hoteinfo@aitkenspence.lk | Website www.aitkenspencehotels.com