We must promote brands constantly

by Lalin Fernandopulle

Although there was a slight dip in the number of tourist arrivals in May and in the early part of June there will be a substantial growth this month due to the Perahera season, said Immediate Past President of the Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, Srilal Miththapala.

He said that tourism is continuing its growth momentum with arrivals up to June this year reaching 381,538, up 36.9 percent from last year.

However, to sustain this growth, it is important that the brand ‘Sri Lanka’ is seen out in the marketplace.

While ‘Sales Promotions’ (which according to marketing parlance is offering inducements and incentives to purchase) is not needed, direct marketing, publicity and promoting the destination are essential”, Miththapala said.

“There are many other Asian competitors around us who are constantly promoting their brands, and therefore if we don’t continue to make our presence felt, it may be a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’,” he said.

The hotel sector has been vested with a huge task to adopt environment friendly practices in keeping with the universal call to save the planet from disasters caused by climate change. Miththapala said the implementation of good sustainable environmental and energy conservation practices in hotels are essential factors for the sustenance of the industry. Initiatives in these areas can result in a 10-15 percent saving in overhead costs of energy.

The EU funded SWITCH-Asia Greening Sri Lanka Hotels Project under the SWITCH-Asia Program is targeted at enhancing environmental performance of Sri Lankan hotels through improvement of energy, water and waste management, reducing cost of operations, and increasing market acceptance of Sri Lankan hotels internationally by promoting them as low carbon footprint green hotels.

Miththapala said that 136 hotels have signed up for ongoing activities, and over 60 walk through audits have been completed. Eleven hotels have been short listed for in-depth study and interventions, out of which preliminary work has been completed in six hotels.

In an effort to intensify and motivate the registered hotels, four Engineers/Naturalists from the 136 registered hotels who meet the selection criteria, will be sponsored to the World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry.