'Immediate need for 20,000 good chefs'

By Gamini Warushamana

Sri Lanka is in immediate need of at least 20,000 good chefs to cater to the demand in the hotel sector which is expanding parallel to the fast-growing tourism industry, said the Director General of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Authority, Dr. D.S. Jayaweera at the opening of Hotel Show 2013 at BMICH last week.

“Sri Lanka's tourism economy is continuing its growth momentum and we are achieving targets and have become a $ 1 billion industry. The international tourism sector is growing at 26 percent and the local sector at 30 percent,” he said.Therefore the growth of related sectors of the industry, especially the growth of the hotel sector is essential to meet the increasing demand. Last year's tourist arrivals exceeded the one million mark and in the first six months of this year tourist arrivals were over 550,000 and we expect over 1.1 million tourist arrivals this year.

Last year, over 10 million hotel rooms were reserved and the formal hotel sector contributed 70 percent and the balance by the informal sector.

These figures show the huge opportunities available for stakeholders in the tourism industry, he said.Jayaweera said that although the country's tourism sector is growing rapidly, stakeholders have failed to exploit the opportunities opening up before them.

Sri Lanka's seafood, fruits and vegetables are yet exported in raw form and the country has failed to attract tourists to taste various kinds of food.

Sunny beaches were the main attraction of over 70 percent of the tourists who arrived last year.

However, food is a major tourist attraction in some countries such as Singapore. Sri Lanka too should develop these sectors using its resources and the culinary skills available in the country.The hotel sector has a challenge in developing this sector and the hotel school has a great role to play.

Tourist arrivals by countries has also changed and there is an increase of 72 percent from China and 45 percent from Russia.

Therefore, the hotel sector should have chefs with culinary skills to prepare specific foods for them, he said.