As much as our tour guide lecturers have rights, they have huge
responsibilities too. They need to work in getting the negative practises that
are harmful to our tourism done with. Today’s repost of a column I wrote for
the ‘Daily Financial Times, Sri Lanka’ in October 2010, is an attempt I made to
focus on this issue as it existed then and still exists in devious ways.
It was a friendly tour guide lecturer, who shared with me a few years
ago, some stark details of the nature of the commission structure that prevails
within our tourism industry. From the time a tour is undertaken by a tour
operating company, several layers of commissions are built on the informal
pricing equation associated with that tour, he said. It often begins at the
company’s tour desk (sans some exceptions), determining where the stops on the
tour should be. The meals, shopping for gems and jewellery, handicrafts, visits
to spice gardens, clothing purchases, elephant rides, safari rides, photographs
with mahouts, it’s all worked out and laid before the accompanying tour guide.
According to him, the tour operators who hire their services, have agreements
with these entities and even have taken security deposits, some exceeding
millions of rupees. In other words, it’s an institutionalised system in place.
The structure of commission sharing on each purchase or service apparently
involves several people along the way. The driver, the guide, tour assistant
and others along the way, given the nature of the product or service
bought.
Apart from not having the choice to visit or shop at their own will, the
visitor ends up paying a cool 60% on top of the market value of that product or
service, he claimed. I further verified and found it to be fact. These indeed are
charges beyond the real economic value plus the profit margin of the good or
service that is purchased. Upon the return from a tour, the first question
asked from the guide, he said was “how much commission was made?” and not “if
the guests were happy with the tour?” I
often raised this issue with leaders of the tourism industry and the answers
were always “These are bad times. We are too many, chasing too few tourists” or
“It’s not only in Sri Lanka, this is the practise everywhere else” or “We all
need to survive and let them earn those extra bucks”.
Please don’t get me wrong. I am all for people in tourism earning the
extra bucks. In fact all good tourism must be good profitable business for all
involved and it must benefit communities and the people at large. But that does
not mean, making it through what I would call an almost vulgar practice of
gross over-charging, preventing the freedom of choice of the visitors
themselves. On the flip side, this practice also prevents communities at large
from benefiting from incomes generated, from tourism operations taking place in
their own back-yards.
Now the scenario has changed. We are no longer “too many operators,
chasing too few tourists”. The arrivals are increasing, thanks to the ending of
the terrorist menace and Sri Lanka is fast becoming a much sought after visitor
destination. It is now our opportunity to shun ‘bad time, bad practises’ and
take on ‘all time, good practices’. It is our opportunity to be truly the
wonder of Asia, with operations based on integrity and honesty within our
tourism domain.
We often complain about what is wrong around us with our society at
large; bribery, corruption, deception etc. but within the bounds of our own
industry, we tend to be ones who encourage such practices, through our own
modus operandi. Tourism is an industry with great potential. An industry that
can promote understanding between people, be a catalyst for peace and be an
activity where sharing and caring takes pride of place.
Our visitors given the expectations they have of our caring ways, our
cultural heritage and the smiling faces, deserve better than to be taken for a
good old ride, when they purchase a gem, an item of handicraft, herbal oil or
clothing. They deserve to get true value for their money. The formal price they
have paid for their stay, modes of transport, visits to places and for decent
entertainment must adequately include margins of value to bring in a reasonable
yield for the operators, their service providers and the communities that
participate in the activity.
The key operational element here should be transparency. The tour
elements, operated by a company or an individual, must be totally transparent with
indicative charges clearly laid out. I am of the firm view that the long-term
impact of such a transparent operation will many times offset, over the short
term ill-gotten gains made through hidden commission structures.
There are several other destinations that provide guidelines on pricing
and on service charges to serve as the basis for such transparency. Added
personalised services and service charges are the norm, and as long as the
visitor is aware of what they are, and /or are making payments of gratuity only
for exceptional service, that should be the way we ought to go.
Good times need not see a continuation of bad-time practises. Good times
can be used as an opportunity for us all to get real and show the rest of the
world that Sri Lanka’s tourism is not only about showing off the island’s
natural beauty, cultural heritage and the other many wonders we possess. We
must show that we are truly a nation of smiling people. Smiling for we truly
care to share what we possess with our visitors, with a deep-seated sense of
integrity and sincerity.
That then will enable us to deliver on the promise of being the true
wonder destination of Asia.
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