The celebration of World Tourism Day 2019

Mr. Sarath Ekanayake North Central Province Governor, the guest of honour of the exhibition to celebrate World Tourism Day 2019, visited  Laksala stall being held at Arcade Independence Square, Colombo 07 today (27th). Two day exhibition, which will end tomorrow, is organised by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. The governor posed for a photograph with Laksala staff too.

Jetwing Travels' cooperation to handicrafts industry

Mr. Madhura De Silva, CEO/Director General, Laksala and Mr. Bandula Withana, Deputy General Manager, Jetwing Travels, discussed new initiatives, strategies, specific challenges affecting the tourism industry, opportunities to enhance the social and economic impact of the sector and way forward to strengthen and promote tourism sector which will lead to  sustainability of the handicrafts industry.

This meeting was held yesterday (25th) at the Jetwing House, Colombo 02. Jetwing Travels  is a renowned Sri Lanka travel agents with years of experience in the travel and hospitality industry.

Laksala and Aitken Spence Travels shared ideas

Both Mr. Madhura De Silva, CEO/Director General, Laksala and Mr. Prasanjit Perera, Vice President, Aitken Spence Travels shared ideas of tourism sector in Sri Lanka and its current status, which will affect the  handicrafts industry, at the Aitken Spence Tower, Colombo 02, today (25th). 

Aitken Spence Travels, the leading tour operator in the island is  the number 1 DMC (Destination Management Company)  and leader among tour agents in Sri Lanka.

SLAITO reaffirms to boost handicrafts industry

Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) reiterates that its organization will be committed to uplifting the handicraft industry in Sri Lanka, said Wing Commander Kumuda Eramudugolla, Chief Operating Officer, SLAITO in a special discussion had with Mr. Madhura De Silva, CEO/Director General, Laksala at the SLAITO Secretariat, Colombo 02, today (24^th).

SLAITO  was formed by Destination Management Companies who have grouped together and created an association in order to lobby on behalf of DMC’s who receive foreign tourists to Sri Lanka. SLAITO is the most influential Association guiding and advising those policy makers in positioning Sri Lanka at the forefront of the global tourism arena.

President’s surprise visit to Laksala at Peradeniya

President Maithripala Sirisena made a surprise visit to Laksala showroom at Peradeniya this morning (22nd). President, who walked around the showroom, posed for a photograph with Laksala staff too.

Laksala will be a shopping point for Iranians

The leading Iranian travel agents endeavour to position Sri Lanka in the tourism generating markets as a preferred tourism destination  to promote various Sri Lankan products and to increase Sri Lanka’s share of the global tourism market.

Under above objectives, Iranian representatives visited Laksala at Thummulla today (21st) to find out handcraft products available for Iranians. In their opinion Laksala will be one of shopping centres for those who visit Sri Lanka from Iran in future.

Sri Lankan authorities undertook a series of promotional initiatives to minimize the negative impact of the Easter Sunday disaster  and to promote tourism to Sri Lanka. As a government entity Laksala also  produced  an awareness campaign through its social media on the theme “ Promoting Tourism”. A cultural event "Heritage to Future" was organized by Laksala  last month to promote tourism too.

Heritage to Future” T-shirt and Skinny in White

“Heritage to Future” high quality cotton gents T-shirt and Skinny, new product range designed,  is available only at Laksala. This was introduced at the Heritage to Future Cultural event which was held at Laksala, Thummulla to promote tourism in Sri Lanka.

T-shirt and Skinny are available at Laksala showrooms in different sizes.

Heritage to Future” T-shirt and Skinny in Black

“Heritage to Future” high quality cotton gents T-shirt and Skinny, new product range designed,  is available only at Laksala. This was introduced at the Heritage to Future Cultural event which was held at Laksala, Thummulla to promote tourism in Sri Lanka.

T-shirt and Skinny are available at Laksala showrooms in different sizes.

SOEs can be operated by effectively and efficiently

Currently State owned enterprises (SOEs) in Sri Lanka are going through issues due to a lack of vision and corporate strategies to achieve goals and objectives. More than everything, the tone at the top does not demonstrate honesty and ethical behavior when conducting its operations. SOEs need to be governed by a strong Board and be led by a Chairman with extensive business acumen and who could demonstrate commitment to honesty, ethical strength, reliability, and fairness through action.

 Laksala’s current Chairman (Mr. Muhammed Hamza) and the Board which comprises with representative from the Treasury and the Line Ministry have set the tone by defining management’s leadership and commitment towards openness, honesty, integrity, and ethical behavior.

Laksala’s Chairman is adopting all best practices in the corporate sector to ensure it run as a profitable organization which functions with a set of processes to create, communicate and deliver value to the customers and manage customer relationships so as to benefit the organization and the stakeholders.  

SOEs that are carrying out commercial operations are provided with all the support by the Treasury and the Government Auditors. Treasury officials and the Government Auditor understand the nature and type of the operations the SOEs are conducting. However, if the management team is weak and if they do not lead by example, then the SOEs are unable to comply with the required laws and regulations by the Government. Nobody can blame red tapes and the auditors for inefficiencies in SOEs. If the management is planning its activities, identify and manage risks, the SOEs can be operated by effectively and efficiently by complying with laws and regulations.

Many SOEs do not have standard operating procedures (SOPs), due to this boards who get appointed through the ministry with political changes, do conduct operations according to their whims and fancies. Therefore the best course of action the SOEs should adopt is to appoint SLIDA to draft SOPs for the SOEs. Laksala has taken initiatives to appoint SLIDA to draft its SOPs already.

Further, when state owned enterprises initiate and attempt to operate with a vision by devising strategies to execute the corporate goals and objectives, the external forces especially the competitors attempt to sabotage the internal operations and bring disrepute to the organization by applying all hostile methods. It is true that SOEs conduct its operations under strict guidelines with many red tapes. However, when SOEs are carrying out commercial operations and taking initiatives to run as a corporate by adopting best practices, the internal and external forces who cannot withstand change suddenly remember all guidelines and taking action to remind the management and general public of all such guidelines to sabotage the operations.

I strongly believe that all SOEs in Sri Lanka should appoint Chairmen and Boards with business acumen to run the operations with a clear long term vision with properly laid down corporate plans. Further, the policies related to human resources (HR), especially performance evaluation should be KPI driven and not to adopt departmental and ministry HR practices to SOEs.

By Madhura De Silva, CEO/ Director General, Laksala