Survival of tourism industry during the war a miracle: Hiran Cooray

The ‘Professionals for a Stable Sri Lanka’ organised Asia’s largest synchronised forum, Momentum, at the Cinnamon Grand, Cinnamon Lakeside, Hotel Galadari and Hilton Colombo Residences last week. One of the event’s preeminent speakers was Jetwing Group Chairman Hiran Cooray. Following are excerpts of his speech:

Jetwing Hotels Chairman Hiran Cooray  – Pix by Lasantha Kumara

Mine is a very easy story to tell. Now, our company has been in tourism for the last 40 plus years. We’ve had some golden periods in the 1970s and early 80s and then for us, time stood still. We could never blossom out in tourism due to factors that are very well known to all of you. During the time of war it is a miracle that we survived, those of us who were in tourism. All of us in tourism lost our confidence and we did whatever to market the destination, because to invite tourists to Sri Lanka it is the country we have to market first, not our properties.

So when bombs were going off in Colombo and other parts of the country, we went outside marketing the destination. The worst hit us when our national airline also was hit. That was probably the worst airline-related disaster in the world until 9/11 happened in New York. So we battled on despite all these obstacles; we did not give up tourism. And it is a miracle that tourism survived until 2009.
We survived due to many reasons as well. Different governments gave us support, soft loans to survive, the tour operators that helped us to continuously bring tourists to Sri Lanka despite the travel advisories that the foreign embassies, foreign governments put on our country. Despite all of that the tour operators did not take Sri Lanka, as a destination, out of their tourism map. And also the other reason why we survived was our beautiful people; people came to Sri Lanka because of our people as well, for the warmth and hospitality that we extended at that time.
We waited patiently for over 25 years until that day came. I must say that while everyone in Sri Lanka benefited, we who struggled along with tourism benefitted a little more. I think it’s fair for me to say that we benefitted a little bit more. This is something that came up on 16 August 2009 in a newspaper in the UK: “End of Sri Lanka’s civil war brings back tourists”. We realised that whatever we did to promote our destination, until there was peace, stability in the country, tourists will never come. You will not believe me when I tell you that our destination marketing program started only this year. The tourist numbers that continued to come here came purely on peace and stability in the country. Because we are blessed with one of the most beautiful countries in the world. We have a five star island; we sometimes don’t value what we have. Only when you travel outside, only when you go to see what’s happening outside, do we then realise how blessed we are to be in our now peaceful island.
New destinations as we speak are coming up. I’m telling you a little bit about my story and Sri Lanka’s story. We as a company are planning on launching new destinations. We have a plan for Uppuveli in the Trincomalee area. This is a very exciting project for us. Some place where we thought we could never go and build. Another hotel we started building in Jaffna. The hotel is under construction now and we hope to have it ready around the middle of next year. It is something that was very personal to us. I went to Jaffna three times from the time between 2010 and 2011 and the people told me there was not much economic development happening, come and do something. There are no proper places to stay and that was really what motivated us.
We are starting to train 80 youth from January next year, all from the Jaffna District in Karainagar, which will also be funded by one of the international agencies and hopefully all 80 of those youth in Jaffna will be working with us very soon.
Another project we have in Wellawaya, again a destination that we would never have thought tourists would go to. I don’t think you as Sri Lankans would have thought of going to Wellawaya as a tourist destination. It’s a paddy field and around that paddy field we will build villas and cottages linked with agro-tourism. If this is a success, again we will be one of the first in the world where we have the farmers also as stakeholders of this project. Again these are exciting things that are happening now. It is very easy for me to come here and talk in front of you but five years would I ever have thought that there would be a situation for me or anybody else to be here and talk about new destinations in our own country? We were simply praying that we will survive; we were simply praying that we will be able to pay the staff working with us.
So again this is with the newfound confidence that we have that we are launching these new projects with excitement. And believe me, when these projects open out it creates opportunities for the people in the area. When these hotels open up, the local communities benefit as well from each and every destination.

Foreign interest
Of course, it is not only the local brands like us, the international brands are coming in and we welcome that. We played the game alone earlier. None of these guys were interested in coming to Sri Lanka. When we met them at travel forums they used to think we were mad to be in tourism. Aren’t you guys having anything else to do in tourism rather than investing? This is what they used to ask us. Now they are all waiting; padding up to come and bat here. Earlier we had to beg them to come here. But it is important that we have these international brands in our country because they have a wider distribution and wider network, they have a global reach that we do not have. So it is good for us. Also the standards go up. We also have to play the game accordingly.
Our marketing mix has changed; our customer base has changed. This is very important as well for us. Earlier we were relying mainly of Western Europe. We used to say jokingly that when the Europeans get a cold, we get pneumonia and die here because if they stopped coming we would be dead anyway. Now it’s a different ball game; it’s a level playing field for all of us to go and promote tourism. The Indian weddings that are happening here are humungous and willingly an Indian wedding goes on for three days. They take an entire destination. Especially in Negombo, where we have close to 400 rooms, we run short of rooms. They charter aircrafts, come here and block the entire Negombo stretch for their weddings. Over 500 people come, three days of partying and then they go back. So that’s the kind of marketing pull we have and it is only beginning now.
Changes in supplier base: this is a very important aspect as well. Earlier, it was only we or what we call the formal sector that was in tourism. When I say formal sector, I mean the people who are registered with the tourist board, who are licensed and authorised. Now, of the tourist arrivals that come to Sri Lanka, at least 30% stay in what is called the informal sector. The informal sector is somebody like you and me, who has a home or an extra room, who can rent that room; a person who has an extra house, who can rent that house. That is spreading right across the country. There are distribution channels. There are private channels, word of mouth, and different social media and through that they get these people coming in. So therefore it is another income source for many people in our country. Once again they would have never planned on benefitting from tourism five years ago.
Our global relations are continuously improving. Different tour operators, different airlines are coming here. Earlier we had to plead with those airlines to ask them to come here. We went begging. When they pull out of a destination, it is a huge loss for us. Remember we are an island and the main source of people coming in here is by air. Shipping lines will develop but then again the ships come for one day and then they take off. These are the passenger liners. Therefore it is very important for us that the air connectivity continues to improve. Now if you look, Emirates is flying in four times a day, Qatar airways too four times a day. Earlier if we had one flight a day, we were so happy. So it’s a changed scenario.
The selling options have changed for us as well. Earlier we could never get Expedia, the world’s largest online travel distributor, to sell Sri Lanka online. They are now selling. I’m sure most of you use these channels when you travel overseas to book your holiday. But again these are one of the biggest suppliers of accommodation to our country.
This is a very important element; the TripAdvisor. Today, social media plays a very huge role in tourism marketing, destination branding and even our own company branding. What we see on these matters a lot, what the customer says matters a lot, so therefore we see lots of our hotels, our destinations promoted on this TripAdvisor. It’s becoming like the ‘Travel Bible’ for anybody who is travelling anywhere; people read this. Even last month, there was a lady from TripAdvisor was in Sri Lanka talking to us and they themselves are promoting TripAdvisor to us now. At a time when we are trying to promote ourselves on TripAdvisor they are coming to Sri Lanka to promote TripAdvisor to us. The ball game has changed as well.
These are independent travel writers. They write on their own analysis why Sri Lanka is becoming one of the best places in the world to invest. This particular writer is comparing with Bali, Thailand and Malaysia. It is this kind of independent travel writers, investment writers, giving their own opinion that matters sometimes more to us. There is a female writer who goes around the world blogging about her independent travel as a female. Her heading says: “Sri Lanka: What took me so long?” She goes on to write about the beauty of our country, the safety of our country and the credibility of our country. She is looking at it through female eyes. How it is safe for a female to travel alone in our country.

Progress across the board
Most of you are involved in different industries and I don’t need to tell you about the development that is happening here. When travel writers ask me about development and what I think of development, I always tell them that development is most important for us as citizens of this country and secondly for the tourists who come here for two weeks. No country develops infrastructure for the tourists. I think that is what we as Sri Lanka must appreciate. Now you and I can go to Galle or Matara in one hour, you can come from the airport at least to Dematagoda in 15 or 20 minutes. Did we ever think that we could do that before? So the tourists definitely benefit. We use this to promote our destination, to promote our country internationally but I think the biggest beneficiaries are not the tourists who come for two weeks. The biggest beneficiaries are us, because it is we who use these most. I think it is very important that more roads of quality are being built all over the country.
Entry ports, I’ve mentioned very briefly about the prospect of cruise tourism. Cruise tourism has not hit us so far, I have to admit. But there is huge potential in cruise tourism. Thousands of people come and they flock to a destination for a day or two. The reason for the delay in more cruises coming in is cruises are planned two to three years ahead. People book their cruise holidays two to three years in advance. But wait and see ladies and gentlemen, in the near future, when I say near future I mean three to five years, cruise tourism will also land here. That is again a huge business. You will get one ships after another coming here. So hopefully the Hambantota District will be having more cruises coming in there.
We definitely need, from a tourism point of view, a second airport. It’s a must-have. Earlier we have been in situations where in bad weather the flights have to be diverted to Chennai. It’s something that the international authorities, international airlines don’t generally like. So I think that whole area, the east coast will eventually benefit from the airport in Mattala.
Employment generation has happened tremendously. I spoke very briefly about our plans to promote and educate the youth in Jaffna. We had an education program in Tissamaharama. 120 youth were trained and now 83 of them are working with us in Jetwing Yala and His Excellency came with the Speaker to hand over the certifications to each and every one of them. In fact I told the boys and the girls after the graduation ceremony: “All of you are lucky. You have got a certificate from His Excellency while I haven’t”, and they really appreciated that. These were all youth from the Hambantota District that would never have thought of working at a hotel if they were not trained properly.
City development: Colombo is changing as I speak. Everyday something new happens. It will never end. I hope the development will never end. You go to Singapore today; every six month they do something new. That’s what has kept Singapore on the world tourism map. In the 1980s they started doing something, they stopped; they started doing something in the 90s, the 2000s, they continued to do and even today they are doing it. Because of my role in PATA, I’ve had access to many people in tourism planning in Singapore. They say that’s their goal: every year or two years they need to add something new. So I hope Sri Lanka also with Colombo, Jaffna, Kandy, Galle, the main cities, they will continue to add and continue to develop all of that.
While we are doing all this, we haven’t forgotten one of the most important aspects, which is sustainability. I’m happy that the Vice Chancellor of Moratuwa University is here with us. He has also helped Sri Lanka on the renewable energy side. It is one thing that is growing. Now for us hoteliers, for us people in tourism, it’s like having hot water in the room. You know it’s a given. If you don’t do this you can’t survive in the future. So the renewable energy aspect is something that is a must-do. Most of us hoteliers are continuing to do this, continuing to develop whether it is biomass generation for boilers, whether it is absorption chillers for air conditioners and of course solar energy for hot water as well as for power.
This is another very important thing which our Minister was very keen on that we were the first to start. Earlier the cinnamon producers did not have much value in these sticks, they would just use it as firewood and throw the balance away. Now we use it as renewable energy for our biomass boilers so the cinnamon farmers get an extra income.
We are continuously planting and growing trees all over the country as we have to protect the greenness and the beauty of our island. Again we have dedicated swimming pools for the children and the women in the area. This is in Galle where the people said that if the women and the children knew how to float many would have survived during the tsunami.
Ladies and gentlemen I am so happy that I’m standing here and talking about a tourism story. Five years ago, no one would have wanted to listen to me, I would not have a story to tell. We probably would not have been in business. I would have been doing something else. Had the war not ended in 2009 and political stability brought into our island, I don’t think I would have been standing here talking to you.
Similarly, for us, the most important aspect is safety and stability. It is something that I’ve continued to preach globally, it is something that I continue to learn through my international experience. There has to be safety and stability in a destination, first of all for the people in the country and next for those who are visiting the country; it is a must-have. This is clip from the Rough Guides travel book. These are independent travel writers. This is the latest edition of the Rough Guides travel book. It says that Sri Lanka is a remarkable safe place to travel in.
These are words that a million dollars or ten million dollars of advertising cannot buy; something that independent travellers write. So ladies and gentlemen it has been a pleasure talking to you this morning and I thank you again.

[Via Daily FT]