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Sri Lankan hospitality is alive and well

Naveed Rozais

By Naveed Rozais

To say that Sri Lanka’s hospitality and tourism industry has taken a beating these last few years is an understatement. But, like all elements of the Sri Lankan identity, it was resilient.

Despite the shock of the 2019 Easter attacks and the subsequent struggle to rebuild in the wake of such a tragedy, Sri Lanka was still named Lonely Planet’s top country for travel in 2019, and one of CNN’s top 20 places to visit for 2020. Then Covid-19 reared its head, affecting tourism and travel worldwide. Now, as we (hopefully) approach the tail end of the pandemic, Sri Lankan hospitality faces another immense challenge – our ongoing national crisis. 

Life in our little island paradise has become a lot less idyllic of late. The effects of the crisis – very little fuel, daily power cuts, skyrocketing levels of inflation, looming food insecurity – are now entirely well-known. Especially on the global stage, our sustained calls for meaningful political change and effective solutions to the crisis have garnered a lot of attention. 

Many travellers are now questioning their decisions to travel to Sri Lanka, and our hospitality industry, which has by no means recovered from the pandemic, is feeling the burn yet again. With the impacts of the economic crisis likely to be felt for a few years to come, travel once again needs to brace itself and adapt. 

One of Sri Lanka’s biggest hospitality draws is its resorts, which will need innovative ways to push forward through the next few years while still meeting the needs of its guests, both internal and external. Brunch sat with Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts Area Vice President (Sri Lanka Resorts) and Cinnamon Bentota Beach General Manager Ilias Vamvakas for a look at what the newest normal for resorts is likely to look like. 

Following are excerpts of the interview:

How did you first get into hospitality and what excites you most about the field? 

I started in hospitality by accident, working at a very small Greek resort in Germany on the weekends. I began to enjoy what I was doing, despite working behind-the-scenes washing dishes. I soon moved to front-of-house working with customers, and this is where I really began to enjoy working in hospitality – through my interactions with internal and external customers. 

What excites me most about hospitality is that wherever you go, you experience something unique and something new. There’s never a dull moment in hospitality; it is never monotonous. I’ve been working in hospitality for over 35 years, and I’ve worked in many countries and parts of the world including Greece, Germany, the UK, Cambodia, Thailand Mauritius, Morocco, the Maldives, and the Caribbean, to name a few. Sri Lanka is the 15th country I’ve had the honour to work in. 

What do you think makes Sri Lanka’s hospitality unique? 

First and foremost, its people. Sri Lankans are genuine people and when they smile, it comes from the heart. It radiates out and penetrates you as well. 

Second is its scenery and what it has to offer. There is great scenery in this country. It’s no coincidence that two Indiana Jones films were made here. It doesn’t matter which part of Sri Lanka you’re in – north, south, east, west, or central, you always have something unique to do or see, from the beach to safaris to history. 

Another thing that makes Sri Lanka super-duper unique is its climate – it’s quite close to the Equator so it’s a very tropical kind of climate where you can wear a t-shirt, but you will still need a jumper if you’re going to the hill country. 

All these things make Sri Lanka unique and attractive to all travellers, whether they’re from the West or Europe or the Far East or the Middle East. 

The last three years have been quite challenging for resorts and hospitality. What has Cinnamon been focusing on during this time to keep its resorts relevant and running? 

Sri Lanka has seen so much, from a 30-year-long civil war to the 2019 bombings, to Covid-19 and now the pressure on people’s image of our beautiful country. 

Part of why we’re still operating is because we’re owned and managed by John Keells Holdings and as a group, we believe in Sri Lanka, our associates, and our talent. We have to think differently about how we’re going to operate in the coming weeks, months, and years. Globally, tourism is the second most heavily affected industry following the pandemic (the first was airlines), and this has changed how people view hospitality as well as how hospitality views itself. 

Many people think the lawn is greener on the other side, but we’ve seen many of our industry colleagues overseas struggling, retiring early, changing careers, or being made redundant – something Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts has strongly avoided doing. We’ve continued paying salaries, paid bonuses, and also one-off payments to assist people in troubled times. 

We have also focused on developing our associates across all our properties and nurturing and utilising their talent to further enhance our service aspect and give present and future guests a more elevated experience, and we have a great opportunity to implement all of this and be pioneers in the field and take hospitality to a different, more elevated level by being more creative and innovative. 

The Chinese have an interesting saying – ‘A crisis is an opportunity to ride a dangerous wind,’ which I take to mean that we always need to remain positive and look for ways to improve. Guests today have many choices when it comes to hospitality; it’s not like it was 20 years ago. They use various channels to get information first-hand which allows us to be more creative, close gaps, and provide a more ‘wow’ experience to keep guests coming back. Word-of-mouth is still the most effective way of promoting a property. 

How do you see the current economic crisis shaping Sri Lankan hospitality? 

There will definitely be a kind of shift in needs and requirements from guests and it will change rapidly. What’s important is to understand our clientele and what they want, and adjust our offerings to suit that clientele, no matter if they are local or international. 

It will also be very important for resorts to be flexible and positive-minded to ensure you really understand what your customers want and what you can deliver. It’s all about thinking outside the box and delivering the goods. 

Educating and developing our associates and talent to deliver in terms of service and food will also play a part as well as things like the amenities resorts offer, the layout and design of rooms, and also the other add-ons and experiences we can offer to make our guests’ experiences unique, from boat rides to safari tours. The properties and expectations of guests will be different, and our associates must continue training and improving to meet guests’ demands and wow them. 

We also need to fix our image internationally. The last couple of months have seen very low inbound travel into our beautiful country, and we have been pushing our teams on the ground as well as partners overseas to let travellers know that despite the queues at petrol stations stretching kilometres long and shortages in food supply chains, Sri Lankan hospitality is still operating, and making sure whoever comes to our doors is given a great experience. 

There are people waiting in queues to get petrol so that they are able to take travellers around. We need to radiate a better understanding to travellers that they can still be served not only by us as a property, but by Sri Lanka as a destination. 

I’ve seen news agencies slamming our beautiful country, and I feel very sad about this. Everybody needs to do their bit and chip in and radiate a positive image of Sri Lanka to the rest of the world. 

What is the most important message you would share with resort travellers? 

If it was a visual message, it would be a picture of us with open arms and a note underneath saying we’re looking forward to welcoming you. Hope you will have a great experience and enjoy our true and honest hospitality. 

I would also emphasise that we are still operating, no beaches are closed, and no historical or other sites are closed. In fact, it’s even better to come now because there are fewer crowds and you can better enjoy and take advantage of Sri Lanka’s beauty now.