Consultative meetings to update tourism master plan |16 March 2018

The first in a series of consultative meetings by the tourism department to update the Tourism Master Plan 2012-2020 was held yesterday for restaurant operators.

The aim of this consultative process is to capture the issues and concerns of key stakeholders in the tourism industry.

Some 20 restaurant operators attended the meeting yesterday at Botanica House and expressed their concerns and challenges they are facing in their establishments.

The consultative meetings are being facilitated by Daniella Larue of Valsen Consultancy who said the Tourism Master Plan was first drawn up in 2010 and over the years many things have changed.

“We did an update back in 2015 and at that time when we requested for representatives of the restaurant industry to provide their input we had only two representatives who turned up. So I am very happy to see that there has been a 700% increase in attendance today,” Mrs Larue said.

In relation to the restaurant industry, findings and feedback from the restaurant operators showed that restaurants are not being sustained over long periods of time. Solutions to this problem were to find out what difficulties the owners might be facing to run and promote their restaurants.

The tourism department’s director for policy, research, monitoring and evaluation Bernice Senaratne said that in view that the tourism sector is dynamic, there is a need to ensure that this sector remains abreast of constant changes and new development.

“The tourism department is updating its Tourism Master Plan in order to ensure that there is a conducive environment that allows the tourism sector to continuously flourish,” she said.

The next consultative meeting for boat charter operators will be held today, followed by another one with yacht charter operators and tour operators on March 26 and 27, 2018.

The validation process of these consultative meetings is expected to take place next month.