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| Kishu Gomes, Chairman, Sril Lanka Tourism Bureau addressing the media at The Arabian Travel Market 2019 |
The Sri Lanka tourism industry stands
united with the rest of the world against terrorism; as we mourn this horrific
tragedy, we must move forward with our enduring Sri Lankan resilience to restore the worlds faith in our beautiful
island home and our hospitality which is the heart of the Sri Lankan way of
life.
One week on from the deadliest terror attacks perpetrated in
the country since the end of the civil war, Sri Lanka Tourism discusses
measures taken to ensure the safety and security of tourists and outlines
strategic plans to rebuild tourism stakeholder confidence to ensure the vital
recovery of the tourism industry that supports one in 10 families in Sri
Lanka.
‘Sri Lankan’s are among the most warm and nurturing people on
earth, when guests arrive on our shore’s they become family’ said Kishu Gomes,
Chairman Sri Lanka Tourism. ‘And when family is hurt the entire community comes
together to protect, nurture, mourn and grieve and heal together…this is our
way and it has been our way from the beginning of time.’ He continued ‘the promise of Sri Lanka is a promise of
hope, of family, of deep awareness, of tolerance, of diversity, of sincere
connection to humanity and nature and of generosity; we will live the promise
of our motherland and we ask anyone who has ever visited us, relished our food,
brewed our teas, cheered our cricket or just marveled at the beauty of a full
moon to become ambassadors of kindness and compassion everywhere they go. We
are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, support and solidarity from people
everywhere and look forward to welcoming the world back home to Sri Lanka’
Chairman Kishu Gomes explained that It is important to review
emergency response protocol in the immediate aftermath of the attacks; Sri
Lanka Tourism was focused on organizing our response in emergency care and
assistance, providing access to clear and accurate information and working with
all national and local law enforcement agencies and foreign missions to ensure
the safety and security of tourists.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack’s we rolled out our
emergency response protocol; trained teams were deployed to the affected
hotels, all hospitals and the airport to ensure that all tourists directly
affected by the attacks received the all the care, attention and assistance
they needed.
Tourists already in country and those
scheduled to arrive in the hours and days following the attacks were also an
immediate priority. In addition to the help desks at hotels, airports and
tourist information centers Sri Lanka Tourism set up an emergency hotline to
ensure tourists and their loved ones back home had access to accurate information
and the entire suite of emergency services; updated information continues to be
issued via local & global media, social media, and foreign missions on a
regular basis.
‘Addressing security issues is a prerequisite
for the revival of tourism and we continue working closely with
all relevant authorities to support all foreign nationals in the country. Sri Lankan police and Tri forces are
working tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of all tourists currently
in Sri Lanka. This is absolutely our first priority’ said Gomes
Custodians of a key industry
With one in every ten Sri Lankan families depending on
tourism for their livelihood both directly and indirectly, Sri Lanka Tourism is
focused on ensuring that the right groundwork is laid to drive an effective and
efficient recovery for this critical industry.
‘We cannot allow ourselves to become
paralyzed by fear, nearly half a million families across the island depend on
us for their daily living; the impact on our economy must be mitigated. We are working to regain the confidence of global travelers
and operators by demonstrating that Sri Lanka’s response to the incident is
effective while reassuring future tourists that all appropriate steps are being
taken by the Sri Lanka Government to prevent any future incidents and ensure
the continued safety and security tourists within the country’ said Gomes
Several high-level cross industry working sessions that
included both the public and private sector stakeholders have been conducted
with the objective of outlining the strategic framework of the recovery
strategy accompanied by a phased out action plan with the clear objective of
minimizing the financial impact of cancellations and to maintain and rebuild
the country brand and manage the long term impact of this tragic incident.
A task force is in place and having worked diligently over
the course of the last week we are confident that a clear and actionable
process is in place, resources allocated and global expertise procured to
support the industry in its recovery.
Demonstrating resilience
We are grateful and humbled by the resilience and generosity
of all the tourists who have chosen to continue with their holiday in Sri Lanka
and we are privileged to continue to welcome hundreds of new tourists every day
since the attack. We must ensure wider global tourism communities have renewed confidence
in our destination by persevering and so to this end all planned promotion
activity will continue to ensure that our critical tourism industry is
protected.
Sri Lanka Tourism will continue with its presence at Arabian
Travel Market in Dubai from 28th April to 1st May 2019. The
Sri Lanka delegation will begin on day one of the event by observing two
minutes silence in honor of the innocent victims and a book of condolence placed
at the Sri Lanka pavilion for visitors to sign and write messages of sympathy
to the victims and their families. Our purpose throughout this event is very
clear - Sri Lanka will not be beaten by terror. We will take this opportunity
to demonstrate to the global media, tour operators, airlines and the world that
Sri Lanka is committed to security.
Similarly, Sri Lanka Tourism will address the tourism
community at the prestigious 5th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy
Tourism in San Sabastian, Spain from 1-2nd of May, where the focus this year is on job creation and
entrepreneurship as a means to advance tourism´s contribution to the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this regard, Sri Lanka Tourism will
seek means to create favorable frameworks to stimulate jobs and
entrepreneurship along the gastronomy tourism value chain as well as develop
knowledge on more relevant skills for gastronomy tourism.
Sri Lanka Convention Bureau will also be present at IMEX in
Frankfurt from the 21st to the 23rd of May. IMEX is a worldwide
Exhibition for Incentive Travel, Meetings and Events, incorporating Meetings
made in Germany. The show is patronized by nearly 160 countries representing
national and regional tourist offices, major hotel groups, airlines,
destination management companies, service providers, trade associations and
more. Over 3962 hosted buyers from more than 86 world markets visit IMEX. The
MICE sector is a major growth driver for the Sri Lanka market.
The only tourism and travel fair in Sri Lanka, Sancharaka Udawa,
will be held on 7 and 8 June. This unique exhibition, now in its ninth edition
is open to all businesses within the local tourism ecosystem and is organized
by Sri Lanka Association of Tour Operators (SLAITO) in collaboration with the
Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB).
The main objective of the exhibition is to
create a platform for small and medium service providers in the industry to
network and build vital links with tour operators and enter the wider tourism
industry.
