Improving service delivery will woo more tourists

by Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

The preparation of human capital to face the influx of tourism should be made at national and industry level as it no mean task, experts in the country’s tourism industry said.

Today, with the country attracting international brands in tourism, fulfilling their human capital needs is paramount to attract the targeted numbers of tourists, Head of Marketing, Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts and Vice President John Keells Group, Dileep Mudadeniya said.

The tourism industry will need trained staff of around 200,000 in the coming years, to face the situation in a way that will benefit the country, he said. A positive sign is that active discussions are taking place on how to fulfil the needs and stem the brain drain, he said.

“Provision of a conducive environment for employees in the industry and continuous training to improve service quality, even though our service delivery is satisfactory at present, which is a plus point for the growth in tourism,” he said.

Every establishment should now be seriously looking at quality service delivery.

“We can state confidently that the tourism sector could be sustained. There has been an increase in the number of arrivals annually. At present, there are one billion travellers worldwide and the number shows no sign of reducing. This will lead to a definite increase in the future,” Mudadeniya said.