No miracle

Minister of Tourism Nandana Gunatilleke is to re-establish the Sri Lanka Tourist Board and repeal the Tourism Act of 2005 enacted during the tenure of former Minister Milinda Moragoda. Minister Gunatilleke talking to The Sunday Leader said that he would not be swayed from the programmes he has for his Ministry.

Refuting allegations levelled against him by certain ‘big wigs’ in the hospitality industry Tourism Minister Nandana Gunatilleke said that decision making on issues related to his Ministry will be made by him.

“Unnecessary powers given by the Tourism Act of 2005 are harmful to the industry and also the majority of the board members in the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, the Hotel School and the Convention Bureau should be from the government and not from the private sector partnership. They have taken decisions to suit their agendas and not to suit the government agenda. I would not tolerate such decisions and once the existing laws are amended I could implement the Mahinda Chinthanaya in the Tourism Ministry,” he claimed. Excerpts:

Q: Did you initiate the complaint through the police on the Hikkaduwa Fest nude photos?

A: No. I did not make any complaints to the police as I was away in Japan and returned only on Sunday. Upon my return I heard that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had taken some suspects into custody but could not verify whether it was my Ministry officials or any other outsiders that helped the police to nab the guilty party.

Q: The JVP almost killed tourism in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Now as Tourism Minister how exactly do you intend to restructure this very vital sector?

A: The then JVP neither killed tourism nor did anything wrong to the industry but always worked towards the betterment of the leisure sector.

Fidel Castro of Cuba followed by Raul Castro has never tried to destroy their country’s leisure industry but have developed it to earn foreign exchange. Likewise although Vietnam and China are two communist countries still they have uplifted their tourism industry so did we.

Now I am not a JVP member but belong to an alliance of the UPFA government. All these accusations are made by the ‘big wigs’ of the hospitality industry but certainly not the SME sector. The main reason for them to accuse me of being not accountable is that they do not want to accept me as their Minister. They wanted someone whom they could control. Now all their plans have gone wrong and they are making several accusations against me and my party.

Q: Is the industry currently facing a crisis situation?

A: No the industry is perfectly in position and does not face any crisis situation. Those who were not allowed to control the Ministry work are saying that there is a crisis situation in the industry.

I have directed the relevant officers to attend to all urgent work to increase the product but understand that there is a certain group that does not want to see me developing the industry.

I would not accuse the entire private sector partnership for the situation, but most of them are pulling my leg trying to stop me from developing the industry. For instance it was these officers who wanted to get a good portion from the proposed US $ 20 million World Bank tourism industry project. But failing in their attempts, they are now trying to create a crisis in the industry.

I would like to tell them that as long as I serve as the Tourism Minister I would not allow the industry to face any crisis situation as they hope would happen.

Q: Do you have plans to involve the private sector to help boost tourism?

A: Certainly yes.  I very much need their help, as this is a private sector driven industry.

Q: Should not the private sector be brought in as an executive partner to help manage the industry?

A: True the private sector partnership is vital to revive the industry but we should not give the upper hand to them. It is the private sector partnership that has taken all the vital decisions in the industry earlier, but what I understood was that the decisions made by them were not to suit the government but their personal agendas.

It is the government authority that has to reign and not personal agendas which are harmful to the tourism industry. As a result, while giving the private sector an opportunity to help me to boost the industry it is Mahinda Chinthanaya that has to be implemented at the Tourism Ministry.

Q: Why did Prema Cooray (regarded as an authority in the hotel trade) and Cornel Perera tender their resignations soon after you were appointed Minister Tourism?

A: They did not tender their resignations soon after I was appointed.  What in fact took place was that I wanted them to step down two months after my appointment as I found they were not cooperating to achieve my goals. It was disheartening to see that these two Chairmen did not even come to meet me after I took over office.

How could I work and how could I expect a proper job from such people when they were not ready to cooperate with me? I do not have any grudge with the board members either, but if I know that I would not get their support then I would not hesitate to remove any officer holding office irrespective of positions.

Q: There is criticism that you have begun to bring in from outside the industry, persons who have no knowledge of the management needs of the industry, and are removing members of the private sector who were associated with the industry such as Cooray and Perera?

A: These are all baseless allegations. Those who cling to director boards in the Tourism Development Authority, the Hotel School, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, and the Convention Bureau think that they are the best set of people in the industry, which is not.

There are many more educated people in the country to serve these boards and I would get their service to the betterment of the industry in the near future. The newly appointed Chairman Hotel School Sarath Kodituwakku is a senior lecturer who has a MBA and is a good administrator as well. Being a lecturer I think he is the best person to head the Hotel School.

I know who is levelling these allegations against me and these do not scare me.   I know what I  have to do in order to boost the tourism industry and bring dividends to the country.

That was why I decided to appoint the most suitable persons to key positions and I have received the blessings of President Mahinda Rajapakse in all my endeavours. To be fair,  I also should be thankful to the former Hotel School Chairman Prema Cooray for being very diplomatic in handing over his resignation to me personally telling me he was ready to help me in whatever way he could in order to develop the tourism sector although it was I who asked him to step down.

Q: The latest development is that the unions have got activated and are seeking to re- establish the former Sri Lanka Tourist Board and do away with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau; they also seek to have the Tourism Act of 2005 repealed.   Won’t this be a huge setback for the industry?

A: This course of action would not be a setback but certainly a boost to the industry. Yes, very soon legislation would be passed to bring back the Sri Lanka Tourist Board and to repeal the Tourism Act of 2005 which has done nothing to the industry but has influenced the private sector partners to take the upper hand in all important decision making in recent past.

Although 90% of the tourism sector is a private sector driven industry still it comes under the Tourism Ministry, which is a government institution. Although Mahinda Chinthanaya is in full force in all government institutions it is sad to note that Chinthanaya policy was not implemented at the Tourism Ministry. The four key institutions under the Tourism Ministry – the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, the Convention Bureau and the Hotel School were headed by boards and the majority of the members were from the private sector over which the government did not have any control. In that backdrop they took decisions according to their personal agendas and also to satisfy their superiors and not the government.

As a result there is an urgent need to rectify the mistakes made in the past and accordingly the Sri Lanka Tourist Board would be re-established and the controversial Tourism Act of 2005 would be repealed.

Q: We have over the years seen millions being spent on promotion without the desired results.  Do you believe there is no better promoter than a satisfied customer and if we only invest in the tourist we shall reap rich rewards?

A: Certainly without spending millions of rupees on promotional campaigns and foreign fairs we still could promote destinations through our valued customers by providing the best facilities we could. That is why we need to spend more on the product than on promotional campaigns and we are now in the process of improving the product.

The worst is that the officers in the Tourism Ministry want to trot all over the globe by way of promoting Sri Lanka as a destination, which have already cost the country and the Ministry a tidy sum. Being the Cabinet Minister in charge of tourism I will not tolerate such colossal spending. However I had to give my permission for about 15-20 foreign promotional campaigns that had been decided on earlier.

I had to stop the globe trotting of two employees in the Ministry who have already passed their retirement age. Although they had the blessings of their former employers to travel abroad for promotional campaigns, as a Minister who does not want to waste public funds I had to stop all these unnecessary expenditure.

In future I will see as to how the promotional activities have to be done but certainly concentrate more on the product and on satisfying customers to get better feedback rather than spending millions of rupees on unnecessary foreign fairs and campaigns.