Dear Friends,

Well, 6 months into the year, Sri Lanka Tourism has done pretty well. All indications are that we will continue this positive trend. The arrival numbers have increased year on year and more importantly, the earnings have also raised ahead, earning the country its much needed foreign exchange. Tourism is an industry where the foreign dollar is brought to the country and the consumption of additional services also take place within. This enables many people to benefit directly and indirectly from the industry. We also see a large informal sector developing, especially in terms of providing accommodation and also transportation. However, in the long term, this can negatively impact the formal sector that is within the legal framework of the country and is subject to various fiscal and other regulations. We are hopeful that the "educated" traveller will make a sound choice when given the two alternatives, as supporting ethical and legal business is a responsibility of everyone.

The recent capsizing of a cruise ship on the Yangtze River got me thinking of this problem again. When we are pressured by our partners for competitive pricing, we in turn exert pressure on the suppliers who may be tempted to "cut corners", take that unnecessary risk, in a bid to reduce costs. Are we compelling some of them to forego a service, reduce the training costs, run with something a little longer than prudent? So, in a bid to give our clients a competitive price to secure the business we may be compromising their safety and our own organisations credibility. At Jetwing, we are very mindful of this situation. That is why we are very selective in our choice of suppliers, which is also why we are not always as sharp with our pricing as we simply do not want to compromise. The recent event, which may be purely accidental and unavoidable, nevertheless got me thinking again and justified our position. Here again, we are hopeful that the client will not always make their decision based on price.

On another note, I was privileged to be a part of a tour to Morocco organised by "Jetwing Holidays", our outbound division. We had 31 participants, and what a tour that was! The sights and sounds of the different cities and the amazing bargains at the bazaar in Marrakech left me with a nagging feeling to want to return there. In addition to this we have introduced some interesting tours including river cruises in Europe and the Mekong.

It is also exciting to see our new properties taking shape, with Jetwing Yaarl (in Jaffna) and Jetwing Kaduruketha (in Wellawaya) scheduled to open in the last quarter of 2015.

With Warm wishes,

Travelife, the international certification scheme developed by the travel industry for the travel industry announced recently that they have awarded 08 Travelife Gold Awards to hotels belonging to the Jetwing family of properties: Jetwing Blue, Jetwing Beach, Jetwing VilUyana, Jetwing Ayurveda Pavilions, Jetwing Sea, Jetwing Lighthouse, Jetwing St. Andrew’s and Jetwing Yala. At present, Jetwing possesses the most properties located in Sri Lanka on the Travelife Collection – with 09 properties being certified Gold, including Jetwing Lagoon which was certified in 2013.

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