Colombo-based tech and tourism entrepreneur Dinal Edirisinghe doesn’t mince words. As he tweeted on X/Twitter earlier this year: “Sadly, tourism is a high-potential sector that is suffocated by politicization.” And in a recent piece in the DailyFT, Sri Lanka’s leading business newspaper, he is equally scathing about how the various official tourism bureaus and agencies are handling tourism marketing and promotion. 

Dinal is the Chief Executive of Surmount Ventures, which has an ‘ancient-and-modern’ outlook: the former being Sri Lanka’s tourist attractions, the latter being the use of hi-tech blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI).  (Blockchains allow the verification and traceability of multistep transactions such that occur in the tourism industry. They also ensure security, lower compliance costs, and improve data-transfer processing.) 

Dinal’s management career in sales and marketing includes hotels and banking following an MBA from the National University of Singapore and a BBA from Notre Dame, America’s premier Catholic university. He describes Surmount Ventures’ as ‘a creator of sustainable stakeholder value for people, planet and profit as a dynamic, innovative and intelligent business operating in the food traceability, management consulting and inbound travel sectors’.

Speaking to Echelon, he referred to the DailyFT piece, headlined ‘Sri Lanka tourism: good is not good when better is expected’, as the opening salvo in a campaign to raise awareness of serious shortcomings in the industry. Tourism is not just about selling a dream, he says, but is also “a hard-nosed business that Sri Lanka needs to fully exploit to attract vital foreign exchange after our recent economic collapse and bankruptcy”. 

He emphasizes the benefits of targeting the ‘right’ tourists—ie, those that bring in the most revenue—by improving infrastructure and incorporating new technologies in product development. He also highlights the importance of transparency in the marketing process while monitoring and measuring the success (or failure) of promotional campaigns. Such a strategy, he says, will boost tourism in a highly competitive regional market.

He cites eight areas that need immediate attention:

• Develop facilities such as washrooms, waiting areas and signage around tourist attractions.
• Improve infrastructure such as public toilets, and English communication skills for public transport.
• Conduct customer surveys, focus groups and interviews with travel agents to gather feedback and insights from tourists.
• Update content and add hi-tech features such as augmented reality on official tourism-industry websites.
• Conduct exit polls to gather honest and reliable feedback from tourists on their Sri Lanka experience.
• Use feedback surveys and focus groups to better understand tourists’ needs and expectations.
• The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) must provide incentives for tour companies to adopt sustainable practices.
• Ensure closer cooperation between Sri Lankan and foreign tour operators when developing itineraries.

At the same time, he pinpoints the dearth of professionals in the industry, the need for customer-centric marketing, and the lack of focus and clarity in Sri Lanka’s various tourism marketing efforts. Sustainable-tourism practices, he says, are also crucial, with a pressing need for better coordination between agencies, and tailored services catering to tourists’ cultural preferences. 

Meanwhile, he notes that basic marketing initiatives such as high-quality official websites are essential. “These should be the first points of reference for tourists who are looking to travel to Sri Lanka. But the sites that currently exist leave much to be desired.”

What are his short, medium and long-term solutions to better capitalize on Sri Lanka’s tourism offer and infrastructure?

“Sri Lanka is undergoing a welcome post-pandemic tourism rally, but it badly needs to be depoliticized and led by professional marketers who clearly understand what experiences foreigners are actually looking for. A major issue is that the various stakeholders are not talking to tourists and asking them why they came here, what they expected, and whether those expectations were met. 

“There is a lot of research that can be done, quantitative and qualitative. Right now, I don’t think we do enough customer feedback surveys to find out what tourists actually want as opposed to what we think they want. The SLTDA needs to have a very close rapport with inbound travel agents and customer feedback touch points to get that information and incorporate it into their product development. That is critical.

“Marketing is not just about getting new customers, but also getting repeat customers. I think our marketing efforts as a destination need improving, and could greatly benefit from private companies that use their own initiative. Don’t forget, 80% of the business that comes to Sri Lanka comes through travel agents. Once the tours, once the visitors, have gone home, we could send them an email and ask them to tell us what they really think.

“Finally, we could do worse than follow Singapore’s example. Singapore has hardly any natural beauty, but they have excellent systems and procedures, and their public institutions are fantastic at communicating with target audiences and getting their feedback.”

What is the root of the problem, politically and industry-wide? Why is the situation not as good as it could and should be?

“I think there’s a lack of professionalism when it comes to handling and managing the nuts and bolts of the industry. Governments lack the kind of professionals who are customer centric, marketing oriented, and who have industry experience. One critical area is new technologies such as AI and augmented reality, so we need professionals who are not only experienced but also knowledgeable about these new trends. Today, a tourist can go to AI-powered ChatGPT and in seconds have a seven-day bespoke tailored itinerary. But the point is that ChatGPT runs on algorithms based on what’s already online, so players need to create bigger and better online profiles, and incorporate the latest technologies in their online product development.”

In short, says Dinal, he has three recommendations that he believes the tourism industry needs to focus on:

A meaningful industry tagline

“Our tourism tagline strategy has been a disaster. Sri Lanka, Land Like No Other. Small Miracle. Wonder of Asia. Pearl Of The Indian Ocean. So Sri Lanka, which is particularly asinine. And now, You’ll Come Back For More. All of this in the space of ten years. And how effective has any of it been? Whereas Malaysia, one of our more successful competitors, has the tagline ‘Malaysia, Truly Asia’, a piece of inspired branding that has not changed in ten years…”

More astute marketing

“While Forbes magazine has ranked us as ‘the fourth most popular tourist destination in the world’ for 2024, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau’s digital marketing competency is poor at best. Specifically, its website—www.srilanka.travel—is hard to navigate, is not user-friendly, and lacks customer focus. For example, the Calendar, Upcoming Events and News sections have no updates for 2024.”

Infrastructure development

“Our tourism infrastructure is no match to that found in competitor destinations such as Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Vietnam. This must change if we are to attract high-spending tourists. The old adage ‘speculate to accumulate’ applies here, a prime example being the stalled Colombo Light Railway that would greatly help position our capital city to better exploit leisure and MICE tourism.”

AI and blockchain

Meanwhile, five years ago, Echelon carried a story headlined ‘Artificial intelligence will rule the world. Better data management is the key to better business’. Things have come a long way since then, and Dinal is at the forefront in hailing the benefits that AI and blockchain can bring to businesses with complex supply chains—which includes tourism. 

That means, amongst others, foreign tour operators and their in-country destination management companies (DMCs), hotel-search-and-book websites, and the hotels themselves. These latter in turn have their own supply chains, ranging from housekeeping to food and beverages. 

However, says Dinal, although AI is now increasingly employed for all of the above, none of the individual links are big enough—yet—to justify the considerable cost of setting up and maintaining blockchain infrastructures. That said, he is working on a project that he hopes will pioneer blockchain technology in Sri Lanka’s nascent agri-tech industry, which he believes has great potential to attract and generate much-needed foreign investment. 

But we’ll just have to wait and see how that turns out, he says. So watch this space…