Chairman of Jetwing Hotels group, Hiran Cooray shares an inspiring journey as an hotel industry entrepreneur in Sri Lanka. The story began in 1987 with his family in the hospitality and tourism industry. After finishing his higher studies in Marketing in the US he became involved in the family business.
With perseverance and hard work, today, Jetwing owns and manages 26 hotels and about 12 villas in Sri Lanka. Even though the last few years the hotel industry was badly beaten by recurring issues, Jetwing still stands stable to cater the demand. He was stressing the fact that the solution to the crisis is not running out of it but bravely and confidently facing it.
Jetwing is also working on few new developments and business diversifications. They are also joining the real estate industry by the end of this year with the setting up of the condominium apartment complex at Thalahena, Negombo and also buying old colonial house heritage homes and restoring them. Moreover, they are also working on organic rice and organic tea on a small scale.
They are also working on a brilliant project that enhances the lives of the 40s by giving them a chance to work and taking a helping hand for the hotels from the differently abled children.
Following are the excerpts from the interview.
Can you tell me about your journey as a hotelier in Sri Lanka and how did you start your business?
I would say that I'm one of the lucky ones. My family was in the hospitality and tourism industry and I naturally got into it. After I finished school I went to the US to study marketing management and then came back here and since 1987 I have been working in the hospitality sector. Jetwing owns and manages 26 hotels and about 12 villas in Sri Lanka and apart from the hotel industry, we are predominantly into the leisure sector, tourism, we have Jetwing Travels, Jetwing Holidays which is doing outbound holidays, Jetwing Eco Holidays which is more into nature,cultural holidays, natural holidays.At the moment we are looking at other diversification options like organic rice and organic tea but these happening in a very small scale.
How has the hotel industry in Sri Lanka evolved in recent years, and what are the current trends and developments?
Tourism took a huge beating three times within the last four years. First it was the Easter Sunday bombing, then the Covid-19 and thirdly the economic and political troubles which occurred last year. One after the other we took a huge whack.This was unprecedented, we've been through internal conflict, we've been through a tsunami and things like that but never have we gone through such a prolonged period of uncertainty and this was something that we didn't plan for. The last few years we were continuously sliding downwards and now we finally see ourselves emerging once again. We are coming back slowly but surely into a better position now. We are fairly confident that tourism will play a huge role in lifting Sri Lanka's economy up as well. Not necessarily only ourselves doing well but the country itself will do well if tourism does well
Because of the foreign exchange that is earned, at least 80% will remain within the country which is a big boost to the economy.
The trend we are also seeing is that people tend to move more last minute than in the past,
Especially after Covid people don't plan holidays one or two years in advance, they generally tend to plan something more close to the date. So we see occupancies rising, increasing every week for the following week which was not the case in the past.In the past we knew what to expect in the coming months in occupancy by tourists and other requests for services, but now we might start the month at 15% occupancy but end the month at 50%. So that's a drastic change in the booking pattern of guests.The people are not planning way ahead due the global recession, the people are getting laid off due to economic uncertainties.
The government is planning to boost high-end tourism in the country. What is the potential we have in the Sri Lankan market?
This is something that Sri Lanka really needs. Sri Lanka, as many people say, is a five-star island with a three-star image.What we need is to boost the image of the island. We have everything a small island nation of our size needs, except for snow, we actually have everything else for leisure and travel of the tourists.Our island consists of nature,wildlife, beaches, mountains, plantations, culture, history, religion. All sorts of varied experiences are there. But we still have a very poor image and also the travel and hospitality industry lacks confidence to sell the nation at a higher price. Sell what we have at a higher price. We also have not positioned our hotels. We have iconic hotels. If you take Jetwing, for example, we have many iconic hotels. Jetwing Vil Uyana, Jetwing Kandy Gallery, Jetwing Lighthouse Galle, Jetwing Saman Villas Bentota, Jetwing Kaduruketha Wellawaya, Jetwing Surf.These are all ionic properties. When it comes to marketing the destination also must show the beautiful hotels we have.
The Aitken Spence Hotels, The Galle Face Hotel, the Mount Lavinia Hotel, the Grand Hotel, all these are iconic hotels. They have to be marketed so that the world knows that these beautiful hotels are also there. If we are to get to that high-net-worth traveller, not only the experiences, we also have to show the accommodation and facilities to acknowledge them that we have the best accommodations,facilities, transportations. We have to start from the airport. How is the arrival handled at the airport? Are the facilities enough? Is the welcome enough? Can we do anything more than that to fast-track the arrival process, speed up the arrival process? Then once they come out of the airport, the availability of transport services. Every angle must be looked at. If you are travelling by train, how are the trains function and its quality? How are the facilities in the train? The bathroom facilities, especially for women travellers. Is it good enough for the high-spending clientele to travel by train? All those waiting areas in train stations, bus stations, to the other sectors, are places of concern.
Do you think the country is doing enough promotions to promote tourism? And are we getting enough tourists at the moment?
The country has not gone through a promotion for a long time. Successive people in the Tourism Promotion Bureau to the governments, everybody has tried but not been able to go through a proper promotional positioning campaign for years. I do hope this is the real need of the hour, is a thorough promotion, positioning of the country to bring that image back, the one that I was talking of, into the minds of the people outside.
Well, can't complain about the number of tourists because given that last year by this time, we were not sure whether we would survive one year or not. Given all of that, I think we have to be happy with the increase in tourist arrival.We expect a minimum of one and a half million tourists by the end of 2023. I think if this trend continues by 2024, we can have two million or more tourists coming in.
The government's goal is to receive 2 million visitors. Can we achieve the target?
The president and the minister are very much focused on getting these numbers. Not only that, making sure that Sri Lanka earns from tourism. Even the government is looking at making tourism one of the industry sectors that will boost Sri Lanka's economy back up again.
How do hotels in Sri Lanka differentiate themselves from competitors to attract more guests?
At the moment, there is not much differentiation happening. What is happening is more dog-eat-dog. It's a price driven thing because we are not in a seller's market at the moment due to the poor image and lack of confidence.Therefore, it's just sitting on price, other than a few hotel companies. All others are selling purely on price. Once the confidence returns, then that differentiation will take place. All the luxury hotels are selling at low prices. I sincerely hope the question you're asking will be answered later when the country is able to sell to the right prices.
Are there any government policies or regulations that have influenced the hotel industry in Sri Lanka, either positively or negatively?
The government has very good controls. I must say for a country which is emerging, the policies and controls are there. But sometimes I don't see that its being implemented properly. Unfortunately, in some beach resorts, high-rise buildings are constructed and it has spoiled the scenic beauty of the area. In a city, having high-rise buildings is fine because in a city you have to go vertical. But whether a resort should go vertical is a question. Do we need it or not? In my opinion, it's not. We have to be more sensitive, protecting the environment, protecting the image, all of that. I hope that the standard controlling mechanisms in place to balance development will be implemented.
How has taxes, electricity tariff and high interest rates have affected the industry?
Terrible. Those have been a terrible blow. We all contributed to this. Sri Lankan people have to face it. Solution is not leaving the country. It is really hurting us. The high electricity cost, high interest rates and high taxation, all these are double blows.These are knockout punches. But be that as it may, we have to go forward and if we give up now, we are losers, the country will lose. My appeal is, however difficult it is, to those of us who are in business, to those youngsters who are now looking at a future,the answer is not leaving the country. Answer is staying behind, fighting back.
What unique features or services do you provide to set your hotels stand out from others in the area?
I think our main difference is our management team. We are blessed to have a fantastic team of managers, executive team, and other associates who work with us. They make a difference because of their commitment, love, hospitality, all that.We provide legendary service.That's the main difference. The other is our commitment to sustainability. How we involve the local communities,how we care about nature, environment, and through tourism, we try to see how much we can contribute to bringing peace in the country. We are looking at four P's. People, Planners, Profit, and Peace through tourism.These are the areas that we make a difference.
For example, we are giving second careers to women. To the women, who are in their 40s and probably never worked in their lives before. Since she got married at the age of 20 or 21, and was busy with the children half of their life and now wishes to gain employment, Jetwing is giving the opportunity to start working at the age of 45. We also give differently abled children employment opportunities in our hotels.
In addition, the unique designs, the Jeffrey Bawa hotels, the architectural site, all of that combined, we manage to keep our standards.
What do you enjoy most about running a hotel in Sri Lanka, and what are the rewards and challenges of the business?
I enjoy meeting people, be it the customers, the associates. I love just being with people because if you don't have the companionship we lack the sense of humour, love, passion, ability to smile all the time, ability to thank God for all the blessings we have got. If you don't have that, it's very difficult to be hospitable. Moreover, the ability to travel around the country. I'm happiest when I'm outside of Colombo. Being with nature and associating with different villagers. I feel blessed that I get to travel, to meet people.
Are there any upcoming renovations or expansions planned for the hotel?
Our most exciting development is that we are planning to get into real estate. We are planning to build a condominium apartment complex on the beach in Thalahena Negombo. It was delayed because we didn't get approval earlier. However, towards the end of this year, we will be launching a real estate beachside condominium development in Thalahena Negombo. It’s open for the people who want to live there, who want to buy it as an investment. Another thing that we have been doing in the last few years is buying old colonial house heritage homes and restoring them.The abandoned or broken down heritage homes and restoring them. We've done a few now. The latest one we opened is called heritage home.We are also looking at buying a few more and restoring them.
Based on your own experiences, what advice would you give to someone aspiring to enter the hospitality industry, to start in the hotel business?
The advice I would like to give is to do a lot of planning first. Do a lot of research first. But really, don't just build for the sake of building. I've seen so many people build badly. What is most suitable for the location. Find what suits best for that location and be sensitive to the environment and sensitive to the people in the area.Think of the customer who is going to be enjoying that property and provide the services.