Sri Lanka Tourism needs to be ready for the recovery
Gregg Hopkins credits his dad for giving one of the best pieces of business advice in his professional career. His dad told him “son, the key to long term success is not knowing how to survive the storm but learning how to play in the rain”. Sri Lanka Tourism could take good heed of this piece of advice.
COVID-19 has infected hundreds of thousands of people and killed thousands worldwide. While we pray that it would be brought under control and eradicated soon, it may be a good opportunity to stop and evaluate the way we currently do business. So when this pandemic is over, Sri Lanka Tourism will be better positioned to be among the best-in-class.
The outbreak clearly presents a significant threat to the industry as a whole, to those employed within it and those wishing to continue traveling. However, while everything looks ‘dark’ at the moment, this ‘pandemic’, like all others before it, will go away. Whether that happens sooner or later is still very uncertain. What is certain however is that the recovery will be fast. I clearly remember how swift it was after SARS in 2003.
This is a challenging period, where mobility or movement is hugely restricted. Simultaneously, the desire for people to want to travel and move around the world will intensify as each day goes by. No sooner normalcy is restored; there will be a huge ‘push and pull’ movement in all directions. All countries will experience this. Again, remember the surge in arrivals to Sri Lanka, after the end of the war in 2009? It was mostly fuelled by the ‘pent-up’ desire to visit.
Now is the time to start planning for the inevitable bounce back. Sri Lanka needs to be prepared for the post-coronavirus recovery with marketing initiatives ready to go. All these initiatives need to be pre-approved, pre-recovery measures. Seeking government approval after the global crisis tapers off will be too late. it would benefit the competition and those ‘first-off-the-blocks’, leaving Sri Lanka as ‘also ran’…last.
Tourism and Air Transport are interlinked areas with important interdependencies. The recovery plans must include a ‘fast track’ aimed at getting back maximum flight capacity to Sri Lanka as soon as possible. Should the level of transport connectivity with other countries and the frequency be insufficient, even the best marketing initiative will struggle to deliver results. Connectivity and adequate airlift is especially important for islands with single / limited entry points. Furthermore, lack of direct flights means high ticket prices, affecting the competitiveness of the destination.
The Airline industry is one of the worst-hit by the pandemic. By the time the recovery occurs several airline companies would have gone bankrupt. Currently, this is not a situation where airlines can stimulate any demand. But when the bounce back returns the situation will be reversed. Airport authorities must do everything possible to lure airlines to fly to Sri Lanka - even if it requires granting airlines huge concessions whilst taking a hit on the profitability of airport operations. Above all…’Tourism Sri Lanka’ must be the biggest winner.
We should appoint a Task Force, modeled on the lines of a public-private partnership, to develop and implement strategies to aid the tourism sector and to accelerate the momentum of recovery. The Task Force must work with a collective bias to action rather than compete with each other on individual agendas.
Marketing strategies need to be designed on the basis of insights gained from understanding consumer behaviour and identifying the real drivers. For example, when the virus disappears, the Chinese will again buzz with their customary optimism and energy and the world will again welcome them and their money. We need to determine which of our target market audience will be immediately ready to visit us - i.e. focus on the intrepid ones (adventurous and fearless). Obviously, one cannot rely on that one group of travelers – we have to calibrate and cast our net wider into other types of audiences.
As we sit tight for now and gear up to weather the storm, why not ‘clean our Augean stable’? The time is right to wipe out the unpleasantness that has long plagued the tourism industry and to clear away corrupt malpractices.
The low/non-existent level of tourist arrivals would have caused the majority of those in the informal sector to close shop. Now is the time to eliminate or reduce the number of unlicensed operators who compete with licensed hotels in the shared economy. Implement and enforce a regulatory framework that provides legal protection and a level playing field for all competitors. Do this before those who operated ‘under-the-radar’ prior to the outbreak COVID-19, irrupt into business as the recovery happens.
Act upon the audit report recently released by the Auditor Generals department - where tourists pay high entry fees; do not receive adequate facilities or security when visiting botanical gardens, museums and sites and are overcharged at national parks, whilst been rushed through tours - often falling victim to fraudulent groups. The report adds that the absence of a formal method of charging fees - preferably regularized with an electronic ticket issuance system, the failure by authorities to introduce a proper methodology and mechanism to display charges including enforcing standards of operations, etc. are all causes for the deplorable conditions experienced by visitors.
My position is that if we address these issues now, while seeking shelter from the storm, we will come out stronger and better, no sooner the storm ceases.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, ‘Hospitality Sri Lanka, Trainer, Consultant and Ex-Hotelier.
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