Is Sri Lanka tourism coming to a standstill?

Many thought the autocratic style that existed among tourism authorities in the past that led many to the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) and the anti-bribery commission would come to an end and that sense will prevail following the formaton of the Ministry of Tourism dedicated to tourism development. But this too was proved to be wrong when the Minister has to shoulder unending problems in sports.

As one official said 'we could write books on what happened in the past but we went on with the fervent hope that things will fall into place as the time passes. The truth seems far from that. There is more trumpeting of the same things that were done in the '90s with an annual budget of Rs. 120 million with four tourist Board offices overseas'. The Minister himself is keen to push the industry forward and he is urging everyone to do what is right and needed. Gradually, however the Tourism Authority appears to be drifting back to where it was with almost everyone claiming to be speaking as an expert in tourism at the Ministry.

The bureaucracy, according to some employees of tourism institutions that are entrusted to implement policies is at its best when for instance, the Ministry issued a circular recently stating who could travel overseas for tourism promotions without having a slightest idea as to the objectives of the tourism promotions overseas.

According to the document, only a 'market head' can travel for an overseas promotion. Such a market head who could be a junior manager or an Assistant director, cannot handle multiple functions at promotions specially when world's top tourism companies are represented by their Chairmen and MDs for negotiations or to address media at media conferences and face critical questions.

One officer lamented 'The Ministry has a perception that tourism institution officers go on overseas tours for jaunts. We have to work like bulls until the promotion is over and most of us are even reluctant to travel anymore'.

Ironically Ministry officials take tours overseas for conferences, workshops or seminars which have brought nothing tangible for the country' in decades.

It has been months since the Promotion Bureau was trying to iron out the outstanding payments and the Ministry has so far failed to resolve them by bringing out mechanisms to make decisions on outstanding matters. The process of selecting an advertising agency has taken more than six months with no conclusion. The delay was said to be waiting for a 'procurement officer'!

The circular on overseas tours was followed by another format of a board paper which costs the senior officials days and days to 'fill in the blanks'. This is a joke' some said. The Ministry wants to know why Sri Lanka has to take part in fairs like ITB, WTM and IFTM, etc in detail when the whole world is gathering there to establish business, retain market share, and introduce new products. Apparently, it is not the contents of the Board paper but the number of pages that seem to matter!

One official said, we lost the likes of Ramanujams, George Michaels and the leadership of Dharmasiri Senanayake, Anura Bandaranaike, Milinda Moragoda, etc who not only understood the business but also got the best of the experts of the implementing agencies.

Today it appears that some Ministry officials are dictating terms to implementing authorities as to what has to be done and also by loading papers after papers calling for reports. One head of the institution who is colliding with the Ministry on ' rules and regulations' is said to be sitting on documents and calling for explanations from officers when they have to say the papers are with the head of the institution.

One junior officer said 'None of the officials at the Ministry can make a 5minute presentation on Tourism in Sri Lanka in English although they are speaking like experts at meetings with us'.

The tourism industry is of no help either. Board members are often said to be having their own agendas when the papers are evaluated. The industry that is not represented at these Boards is scratching their head whether it is still relevant to have Board members from associations while the informal sector has outgrown the formal tourism business houses. It is hard to believe that Board members with individualistic goals have the tourism vision for the country from a global perspective. A major part of their job is to criticise tourism officials while only a few have developed their businesses to call themselves truly 'international'.

An ex tourist Board consultant said 'I am in touch with my former colleagues. It is futile to talk about the issues if the policy makers themselves are groping in the dark. We pity the Minister who wants to do something but he is reduced to a figure head having access only to a few Ministry officials which was exactly the case before'.

'For a change, it is good if Ministry officials are sent to the implementing authorities to run the show for a while for them to know what it is while making the Secretary as the Chairman of all four institutions simultaneously. Everyone must get a taste of everything before making assumptions and being self-opinionated says some of the Authority and Bureau officials'.

'Alternatively, the Minister may want to invite retired officials like Ramanujam and George Michael as well as a few former directors of the Tourist Board as consultants for a while to sort out the issues and set the ship on course for it to sail smoothly thereafter', he said adding, 'If one looks back 6-7 years, nothing constructive has happened in the tourism sector in terms of development, promotion or training. The regimes including the present, have been heavily criticising the faults and raising queries after queries without admitting that such projects including Passekudah, Yala and Kalpitiya that started before 2010 are beyond comprehension of politicians, officials and industry members with petty minds.

The so-called promotions being trumpeted about have been done many times over before. After all the Tourist Board existed since '60s and was attracting nearly half million tourists every year when the bombs were going off every day. The current 1.5 million tourists in the present context is no comparison to then, one may argue.