Information in this article was provided by the late Mr. Sam Samaradivakara, former Deputy Director General, Ceylon Tourist Board and the narration was drafted by Tony Maheswaran under his tutelage for publication.
CEYLON (now SRI LANKA) TOURISM – HOW IT BEGAN IN THE 1960’s
As Sri Lanka Tourism Board passes milestones in 2023, it is good to reflect on its beginnings and roots – since without roots there is no tree and no growth.
The Late President J.R. Jayewardene is referred to as the father of modern Sri Lanka Tourism, when he as Minister of State in charge of tourism, established in 1966 The Ceylon Tourist Board (CTB) with the key objective to develop Tourism on a planned basis as a major state economic pillar.
However, the foundation for the tourism strategy post- Independence goes further beyond to the early 1960’s when then Prime Minister, Late Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike having taken over Government, brought the “Government Tourist Bureau” as it existed then under her wings, in addition to holding portfolio as Minister of Defence.
The “Government Tourist Bureau” (GTB) as it was then called was founded in 1937 by the British Administration of colonial rulers but soon was interrupted by the outbreak of World War 2. It was re-started in the early 1950’s after Ceylon gained independence and was a unit under the Ministry of Commerce & Trade led by Minister R.G. Senanayake, before it came under Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
This was an era when the Government Tourist Bureau functioned under a Director who was entrusted with responsibility and authority to facilitate arrangements for the large number of cruise ships calling into Colombo port, manage a chain of “Rest-Houses” strategically positioned around Ceylon and issue licenses for Travel Agents and register local Tour Guides into a formal body to spearhead the growth of tourism in the island.
The Tourist Bureau was also given the function of producing information, promotional and sales materials, to conduct Advertising and Public Relations campaigns in overseas markets (within a sparse budget).
The earlier Directors of the Tourist Bureau were personnel drawn from the august “Ceylon Civil Service” (CCS), until 1960 with the appointment of the first non CCS Director, Mr. Cedric Senaratne, a tourism professional in the early 1960’s. The writer of this article joined the Government Tourist Bureau as Publicity Officer in October 1962, after facing an interview and written examination conducted by a Board appointed by the Public Service Commission reporting to the Director.
He subsequently joined the newly established “Tourist Board” and served 20 more years until his retirement in 1986, at which time when there were only two other long surviving staff members of the former Government Tourist Bureau namely, Information Officers – Mrs. Swarna Boralessa (nee Swarna Dedigama) and Mr. Leonard Opatha.
HURDLES TO PROMOTE TOURISM INTO CEYLON
Although Colombo at that time was popular for day trippers on shore excursions from visiting cruise liners, tourists to visit, explore the destination and staying longer periods thus contributing to national economic growth were meagre in numbers. Identifying Tourism as an important revenue channel needed for the national economy a strategic plan was designed, drafted, approved and passed as legislature to secure a niche of a growing global tourism market and attract them to visit Ceylon. However there were hurdles to be overcome foremost being the difficulty to obtain a visa to visit Ceylon (as it was known before 1972). In this time owing to political policies established in the country, it was negatively perceived abroad in the USA and Europe that the Government “has socialist views”. it was also perceived Ceylon does not have trained hospitality services to cater to tourists.
TOURIST VISA ON ARRIVAL TO CEYLON
To overcome the first hurdle, Prime Minister Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike got parliamentary approval to pass the act to grant a “tourist visa on arrival” for nationals of all western countries and Japan. This was very well received abroad and Sri Lanka in fact became the first country in south Asia to liberalize entry visas for tourists.
BEGINNING OF THE “CEYLON HOTEL SCHOOL”
The overcome the next hurdle of the dearth of trained hospitality services staff needed to provide the levels of services required to cater to the envisaged growing tourism numbers, The Prime Minister again sought and obtained legislature approval to acquire the Colombo Club opposite the Galle Face esplanade and directed the Tourist Bureau to set up a Hotel School to formally train young men and women and build up professional hospitality industry services in the country.
With the assistance of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Tourist Bureau obtained professional hospitality consultants from Switzerland to advise on the establishment thereof. The Principal and Lecturers were also drawn from Germany.
This was also an era where locally, waiting at tables and working in the kitchen was deemed a lowly occupation in Ceylon and families discouraged children from engaging in it. The establishment of the formal Hotel School brought about a radical change in attitudes and among the first recruits were children of well-known families. One of the first students was Rohan Dias Abeyasinghe, son of the then Elections Commissioner who later became the Hotel School’s first Sri Lankan Principal.
PROMOTING CEYLON AS A TOURISM DESTINATION – NOT ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD!
The Tourist Bureau was hampered by working on a limited foreign exchange budget, however managed to engage the services of a Public Relations company in USA – the Hamilton Wrights Organization – to promote Ceylon. The Sri Lanka account was handled by its Rome office led by Dr. Basevi.
The writer pressurized Hamilton Wrights to target their public relations heavily towards tourism and to submit more specific reporting. Positive results were seen thereafter with the strategy of inviting and organizing visits for tourism industry Journalists and Travel Documentary Producers from cherry picked source market countries to visit and publicize their findings on their return to their respective destinations.
The process of promoting visits by Travel Writers however was not known at the time and as it took time for such initiatives to bear fruit, the non-realization of immediate results was critically viewed by the powers at the time and nearly cost the jobs of Director Cedric Senaratne and the writer’s.
NOT ALWAYS GOING TO PLAN!
During this time the writer managed to have agreement from the famous USA Vogue Magazine to do a shoot of a major magazine feature using Ceylon as the background. The visiting team from Vogue Magazine consisted of bevy of beautiful models headed by the celebrated American photographer Ian Ward.
Among the team of seven models was Fiona Frances Elaine Campbell (a lovely looking girl) who was the third wife of Hans Heinrich, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon. The writer also had the fortune to meet the Baron’s second wife Nina Dyer who was then married to Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, when they visited his hometown Badulla, for a story for the Times of Ceylon.
The visit was adventurous; before they left on the photo shoot they were told that no religious objects could be used as backdrops and this was a strict condition.
The Bureau gave them full hospitality and to ensure they observed the conditions also assigned Mr. Upali Dodanwela, Information Officer, to accompany the team of models and photographer with instructions that he was to ensure that no Buddhist shrines and statues are used as backdrops.
When the USA Vogue Magazine was published, all hell broke loose in Colombo when it was discovered that the photographer had taken a photo of the models in front of the Ruwanweliseya Dagoba in Anuradhapura and worse still where a model’s legs could plainly be seen through the dress she was wearing. They had given poor Upali the slip by leaving the Tissawewa Resthouse where they were staying, at dawn while he was sleeping!
Buddhist monks launched an immediate protest calling for the dismissal of the responsible Tourist Bureau officers and the incident was taken up as a theme of discussion in Parliament. The officers in question kept a low profile and feverishly ensured that no copies reached the public in Sri Lanka. The Times of Ceylon to give them credit also chipped in and came to their rescue by playing down the incident.
ANOTHER HANDICAP – LACK OF FLIGHTS TO CARRY TOURISTS!
Another handicap for Ceylon’s tourism growth was the lack of scheduled international airlines flying into and through the international airport in Colombo. At this time it so happened that the Tourist Bureau agreed to host a familiarization tour of a group of 12 prominent Outbound Tour Operators from Europe on a trip sponsored by Lufthansa Airlines, Germany in 1964.
THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL CHARTER OPERATION FROM EUROPE – MOMENTS IN PLANNING!
Among them was Mr. Michael Tondeur, Product Manager of the well-known Swiss Operator Hotelplan. Michael Tondeur returned to Ceylon a few weeks after the familiarization visit and expressed interest in bringing Swiss and European tourists on Swiss flights to Ceylon and stipulated, proper tourist coaches be available to provide transfers and sightseeing for their clients.
This was a tall order at the time as Ceylon Tours was the only private company who had a few western standard modern coaches called the Golden Hind. However not to lose out on a golden opportunity for the country and its tourism industry from the potential of having increase in tourist traffic arrivals, the writer contacted his classmate Mr. U.A. Wimaladasa who was the Public Relations Officer at the Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) and explained the predicament.
In consultation with his Chairman at CTB, Mr. Vere de Mel, who also was the head of a prominent private company Quickshaws, Wimal (as was fondly known among his friends) confirmed that the Ceylon Transport Board would obtain a fleet of second-hand Greenline coaches from London to meet the need for tourist transportation. To tie the loose ends Mr. Michael Tondeur was taken in person to the CTB to hear their firm commitment to which he agreed to this as the best solution at the time!
PROMOTIONAL SUCCESS – CRISIS UNIMAGINED !
Michael Tonduer returned to Zurich, Switzerland and initiated the process about producing a Tour Catalogue for Winter 1964/1965 promoting a series of charter flights to Ceylon from Zurich. The results were positive and unexpected as the charters were soon booked up and confirmed for Ceylon.
And then the shit hit the fan! The charters were scheduled to fly into Colombo on a weekly basis however there was no sign of the promised Greenline coaches because the transport of coaches from UK to Sri Lanka was hit by a London dock strike. The writer pressed the panic button and told Wimal, that his – the writer’s job at the Tourist Bureau – was at stake for the second time.
Michael Tondeur who was informed of the transportation crisis immediately returned to Colombo to work out a solution. Meanwhile the Ceylon Transport Board had refurbished some buses used for normal transport, however on inspection, Michael Tondeur declared they were not up to the standards expected by Tour Operator Hotelplan and their Swiss clients.
CRISIS MANAGED AND SUCCESSFULLY OVERCOME BY TEAM WORK!
This was a crisis!. On the one hand all the Charter flights had booked up selling well in Switzerland and this situation had Hotelplan facing the risk of downturn in their overall reputation in the Swiss market overall for current and future business because of Ceylon. For Ceylon this would be the strangulation at birth of future tourism promotional activites into the global market.
As an immediate and urgent solution Michael Tondeur offered to fly out a stock of special reclining luxury seats which the Ceylon Transport Board should fit into their buses. This of course was agreed to immediately by the CTB.
TOURISM BOARD SOLD A DUMMY – HOWEVER SUCCESSFUL RESULTS!
The next step to make the operations run efficiently and smoothly Michael Tondeur needed a local travel Agent holding a valid license issued by the Tourist Bureau to be the local ground representative for Hotelplan operations in Ceylon.
However, news reached the Bureau that Mr. Don Liyanage who was at the time an unlicensed Travel Agent on hearing of the developments had flown to Zurich to meet Hotelplan officials and secured the ground handling contract for Hotelplan charters. The Tourist Bureau checked with Katunayake Airport and at first they could not find information of “Don Liyanage of Ceylon” having gone through the immigration. Sometime later though it transpired that Don Liyange had flown to Zurich exiting Ceylon on a British passport he held and was recorded as a tourist exiting Sri Lanka!. Too late for licensed travel agents as Don Liyanage was by then the established partner for Hotelplan Switzerland to handle the charters!
The winter 1964/65 charter operation were positive with the charters successfully serviced, operated and the reputation of Hotelplan in Switzerland and Don Liyanage in Ceylon was firmly and positively exposed.
SUCCESS – CEYLON RECOGNIZED AS TROPICAL LONG HAUL TOURIST DESTINATION IN EUROPE
Overall, the successful conclusion of the Winter 1964/1965 charter operations delivered to Hotelplan resulted in Ceylon rapidly gaining exposure as an exotic, tropical, long haul tourist destination for Europeans seeking holiday options away from European winters.
NEW HANDICAP OVERCOME – INCREASING FLIGHT CAPACITY TO CEYLON
However again the handicap was the lack of air-capacity to meet the demand. Although international tourism grew by leaps and bounds scheduled airlines kept away from Colombo due to the lack of a major airport.
CEYLON TOURISM GROWTH AIDED BY FRIENDLY EUROPEAN AIRLINES
This is when the void was fortunately filled with several European charter airlines such as Condor and LTU from Germany, Balair from Switzerland, Vingresor from Sweden and Tjaereborg from Denmark coming to the aid of Ceylon. They provided the major tour operators of the respective countries the needed air-capacity to fill the demand for air-seats and made Sri Lanka a major tourism destination, alongside other tourist destinations at the time such as Thailand, Kenya and the Caribbean. German charter airlines which used Colombo and Bangkok as twin centers with a circular rotation flight route were persuaded to launch “back-to-back direct flights” to Colombo to eliminate the hassle of the 18 hours flight via Bangkok for tourists visiting Sri Lanka. This showed immediate results with increased demand for more seats to Colombo. The operation of back-to-back flights to Colombo also resulted in charter carriers changing aircrafts from 707’s to 747 Jumbos thereby increasing capacities for Ceylon tourism.
GOVERNMENT POLICY – TOURISM KEPT FREE FROM POLITICS
Sri Lanka at the same time had the unique fortune, that the leaders of the two major political parties at that time, namely Sirimavo Bandaranaike and J.R.Jayawardene had an understanding that tourism being a much needed source of revenue and foreign exchange for the country, tourism shall be kept free from domestic politics.
CHANGE OF BATON HOWEVER SENSIBLE POLICY FOR TOURISM GROWTH CONTINUES
In 1966, when the UNP came into power with the change of government, Mr. J.R.Jayawardene took tourism under his wing and established the Ceylon Tourist Board under the able Chairmanship of A.C.H de Soysa, a former Civil Servant cum business magnate.
Embarking on developing tourism on a planned basis, at the request of the Tourist Board for a tourism expert as adviser, the UNDP assigned Mr. S.N. Chib, a prominent former Director General of the Indian Tourism Department as UN Adviser to the Tourist Board, and he remained in this capacity of Adviser for 2 years.
As the Government Tourist Bureau was made defunct, the writer was invited by the UN Adviser to join the Tourist Board as Assistant Director Publicity in 1966. Having accepted the post, the writer established the Tourist Board’s Publicity Department creating four divisions to handle Publicity & PR, Media, Information and Distribution in 1966. Later he was promoted as Actg. Director Publicity.
In 1970 the next change of government took place and political batons were switched; Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike returned to power and as Prime Minister. She maintained the foresight of keeping domestic politics away from the progress of the Tourism industry in the country. She appointed Mr. Dharmasiri Senanayake as the next Chairman of the Ceylon Tourist Board. It was a wise and positive move as Mr. Senanayaka, who taking over the successful organization established by the former chairman A.C.H.de Soysa continued to raise Ceylon Tourism to another level enjoying both domestic and international prestige.
TOURISM PROMOTIONS FROM SOURCE MARKETS
In September 1972 the writer took up the post as Director of the European Office set up in 1969 to succeed Mano Handy who left the Tourist Board to take up an international post at the World Tourism Organization (WTO) in Madrid.
The Writer expanded the scope of the European Office by establishing branch offices in Paris, Rome, and Scandinavia in addition to the already existing UK office in London to push for intensive market penetration and forge closer ties with tour operators of those countries to sustain the promotion of Ceylon as a tourist destination. By late 1970’s this strategy resulted in the European markets producing 65% of the total tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka with healthy yields.
The writer who originally went to run the Ceylon Tourist Board European Office, Frankfurt on a three year contract 1969-1972 was asked to stay on for 14 years as Director /Europe until retirement in 1986. In the process he worked under a succession of Chairmen, A.C.de Soysa, Dharmasiri Senanayaka, Chandra De Soysa, and H.P.Siriwardane, who all contributed to the tourism promotion success of Ceylon who had by then become Sri Lanka.
In the interim till retirement, in 1980 the writer was asked to take up a temporary post in addition to Europe and manage the Tourist Board New York Office as well for three months until a successor was sent from Colombo to replace the then incumbent director Mr. Lakshman Ratnapala, who left to accept the post of Director of PATA in San Francisco. The successor from Colombo however only arrived two years later and for the assignment of 2 months stretched 2 years until 1982.
EUROPE IS THE BIGGER REVENUE PER HEAD CONTRIBUTOR
In the period from 1966 till the late 1990’s tourists from European source markets were the key contributors to Sri Lanka Tourism both in numbers and yields. The flare up of terrorism in the island was a serious obstacle in promoting the destination as long term planning and investment into promotional campaigns washed away with sporadic bombings and attacks. The terrorism that originated from the south almost crippled the islands industry and would have crashed if not for the resilience of local tourism investors of hotels and tourism companies. Despite the challenges they continued to invest heavily in promotional campaigns in source markets. From the outside-in, credit to the foreign tour operators from Europe including Scandinavia and the United Kingdom who steadfastly stood by Sri Lanka Tourism to sustain Sri Lanka visibility in promotional campaigns in their markets despite occasional loss of advertising revenues. Credit also to charter airlines who continued to fly into Sri Lanka despite diminishing seat capacities and their exit was more due to operational challenges posed by legacy carriers over all else. And the government of Sri Lanka who in their own way kept the tourism industry ticking.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sam Samaradivakara is iconic in tourism industry promotions. Having retired from Sri Lanka Tourism in the 1980’s and domiciled in Frankfurt Germany, he nevertheless contributed to Sri Lanka Tourism with guidance, assistance and insights to those engaged in Sri Lanka tourism. Even after retirement he visited trade exhibitions viz., ITB Berlin for many years after retirement helping promote Sri Lanka. His personal relationships with many top officials in the German and European tourism entities enabled him to open doors direct to decision makers and they in turn turned to him for advise and counsel on operations to Sri Lanka.
In 1990 Sam, took up a new role – promoting Dubai and the United Arab Emirates as potentail tourism destinations to European tour operators mainly from Germany. Joining UAE’s leading Destination Management Company Sharjah National Tourism & Travel Agency (SNTTA) owned and chaired by His Highness Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdul Aziz Al Qasimi, Sam was key in securing prominent Tour Operators such as TUI, Orion Interconti, Tischler Reizen, Gebeco Reizen, DER Touristik from Germany, Info Reisen Bischofberger Zurich to enter the UAE market and invest in promotions that resulted in the opening up of tourism into the Gulf Country after the first iraq – Kuwait war in 1990.
Sam together with his destination promotion counterparts at leading European Tour Operators crafted the very successful UAE – Oman roundtrip program that was taken by by several German and Swiss brands as well as by specialist tour brand Dr. Tigges.
Sam also successfully promoted and secured attracting Peter Dielmann Cruises as the first passenger Cruise Liner to feature a program and operations to Dubai and the UAE. This success motivated Peter Dielmann cruises to expand the cruise itinerary to ports of call Sultanate of Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. This also enabled him to successfully bid and secure to operations to the UAE of Hapag Lloyd Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Albatross Reizen and Maxim Gorky among the well-known names of European cruise operators to feature UAE and neighboring gulf states as ports of call on yearly operations.
In 2006 Sam finally hung up his boots in tourism but never gave it up completely, always reading and updating his knowledge on both destinations and readily sharing his knowledge with those who sought it.
After a long, fruitful life where his human qualities always was at the forefront Sam finally bid adieu to the world in April 2023.