PRESIDENT URGES HOTELIERS TO TARGET 5M TOURISTS

President Ranil Wickremesinghe outlined a comprehensive strategy to propel the country’s tourism sector to new heights.

Addressing the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) at their 58th Annual General Meeting hosted by Shangri-La Colombo, the President focussed on surpassing the target of five million tourists and redefining traditional approaches.

Emphasizing the need for innovative thinking and collaboration within the industry to ensure sustainable growth, the President’s vision extends to achieving 7.5 million visitors in the coming years.

“When I took over the government, I realised that sustainability alone is not sufficient. How are we going to earn foreign exchange? How are we going to have a positive balance of trade? In that, there were many suggestions. But what is the low-hanging fruit? And one of the low-hanging fruits was tourism. Let’s promote tourism fully,” President Wickremesinghe declared.

The President acknowledged the need to move beyond the existing framework and embrace competition to elevate Sri Lanka’s standing in the global tourism market. Drawing parallels with countries like Vietnam, he questioned why they had more tourists despite being in the industry for a shorter period.

“Looking back at 2021, yes, it is good, but next year we must target 2.5 million tourists,” Wickremesinghe said adding that the hotels should set sights on $250 or $500 per room night,” the President said urging hotels to go above the Minimum Room Rate.

“When you achieve 7.5 million tourists by 2030 let us set sights on $750 or $1,000 per night maximum,” emphasised Wickremesinghe.

“We need to look at how we can develop the different areas. Let’s work on it. Sri Lanka has to be sold as a whole product. We need new thinking and strategy,” Wickremesinghe said throwing the gauntlet at the industry which re-elected M. Shanthikumar as THASL president for another term.

“We are not Thailand nor are we Malaysia where their arrival target exceeds 30 million tourists. Hence, they will be on a volume driven strategy. We are at the moment going behind segments which have no other place to go,” said Shanthikumar.

“The business impact of the last four years was worse than the 30-year conflict period. Hoteliers have run out of their reserves after paying off their employees and spending on maintenance and limited operations of the hotels with no top line revenues. THASL members, especially the SME sector require a decent debt restructuring with a minimum of a 10 year repayment to be sustainable,” he pointed out.

He said that the tourism debt which was Rs. 300 billion in 2018 had doubled to Rs. 600 billion by last year and is expected to reach Rs. 700 billion by end of 2023.

Tourism Minister Harin Fernando was of the view that minimum room rate has helped the tourism industry.

He recalled that in 2019, before the Easter Sunday setbacks the minimum hotel rate was at $120, and at present it is only $100.

“I think Sri Lanka has to position themselves, as it is different from Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore. We have to have our own unique identity and promote Sri Lanka as a better destination,” said Fernando.