‘Design’ Adds Value to Hotel Industry
Veteran hotelier Hiran Cooray, Chairman-Jetwing Group and President of Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, talks about how design can be utilised to enrich what the hospitality industry offers
We’re discussing about the importance of design for business. What was your first eyeopener to design playing a crucial role in the business world?
It has been quite imminent with the direction of business and what consumers begin to value. Having been in the industry for decades, myself and even other key hoteliers have seen the rising importance of design and creative value addition for business and especially for a sector like hospitality that leans quite a lot on elements like interior design, branding, giftware and product design etc. But, interestingly, towards the end of 2014, I was invited as a chief guest for the graduate exhibition held by AOD design campus. Here, I found the whole event to be a real eye-opener where young designers were already collaborating with business to do fantastic work that was very relevant for industriesit was beyond what I expected to see what we can achieve with homegrown talent and good design education impacting the business world.
Why do you think integrating design into business is so important for Sri Lanka?
As a hospitality industry professional who has been in the industry for decades I have seen our hotels and tourism-led businesses having to import talent from elsewhere. As a proud Sri Lankan, I always wished it wasn’t the case, but it was unavoidable as we needed to be in par with international interior trends and styles. It is refreshing to see how educators like AOD and even government universities are finally nurturing the correct design talent of international standards to design and produce our own fantastic hotels, textiles, hotel-ware, logos and so on. It isn’t only for hotels and tourism– I can see how this will benefit many industries. This means our businesses and industries now have access to a talent base right here in the country and we don’t have to import design. As Sri Lankans I think it is important for our youth to achieve skills to be able to enrich businesses. With the talent pool available, design is becoming a crucial service sector to add value to industry.
You mentioned that design becomes a valuable service sector for all industries. Can you explain this more?
Well, if you look at the most successful businesses out there today in the world you will notice that they all have certain things in common. One of these things is the integration of design into their business. I think design brings in a quality of thoughtfulness to a business. So from the logo of a brand designed by a graphic designer, to the corporate space designed by an interior designer to uniforms that express the brand philosophy by a fashion designer are things that bring in this ‘thoughtful difference’. And today, the consumers identify it.
Has Jetwing made use of design, and if so, how?
We have always been a brand that promoted a high quality and we have always been very focused on what the brand stands for. From our group logo and how that translates our individual resorts, to the interior design of each hotel, Jetwing has used design to a great extent. Last year, we even commissioned a professional fashion designer, who is in fact a graduate of AOD’s UK fashion degree, to design our hospitality staff uniform. The outcome was fantastic as we saw how traditional handloom was reinvented to create a range of designer sarongs for our staff- they were very Sri Lankan, very modern and expressed the Jetwing brand philosophy perfectly. At Jetwing, we have had a wonderful relationship with design and I can say that Jetwing is a very design driven brand.
How do you see ‘Design’ fitting into the economic agenda of the nation?
I think design has a lot to contribute to Sri Lanka. As our economy grows and our businesses start to compete with global brands and entering international markets, I think design will play a big part in taking local products and brands to the next level, by enhancing value. So, the future of our industries and therefore, our economy has a big role for design to play in its agenda. It’s a relief to see that Sri Lanka has the correct design education and the training, especially with industryforward educators like AOD, to step into this future.
Hailed as a respected professional in Sri Lankan tourism, Hiran Cooray studied ad St. Joseph’s - Colombo and graduated from the University of North Carolina. Cooray has represented Sri Lanka on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Asia Travel Association ( PATA) & was the immediate past Chairman (2010/12); Chairman of PATA Sri Lanka Chapter ( 2003/ 4), President of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (2005/8) and an Alternate Member of the UNWTO – World Committee on Tourism Ethics 2013-2017. He is currently serving for the second term as President of Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka 20142016 and the Board of the Sri Lanka Tourist Development Authority.