Ruwan Ratnayaka
2023 Asia Award Winner, Entrepreneur, Tourism Marketing Expert, Concept Developer and Lecturer
14/12/2023
Asia Awards 2023 - Outstanding CEO Award and Tourism Icon Award Winner.
19/11/2023
We have run many destination branding initiatives during the last ten years. All these branding efforts have never been aligned with our destination positioning or they have had no association with the Product that we offer as a country. They have had no link with our strategic direction too. We in the tourism industry expected something very rational during the latest rebranding exercise that the SLTPB ran couple of months ago. "You'll come back for more" Can anyone tell me what is the association this has with brand Sri Lanka ? Is this message only for the repeaters? What do you mean by more? How is this related to the Strategies Direction of Sri Lanka Tourism ? If someone has answers to these questions, please enlighten me as I have never understood about these branding initiatives even after reading my PhD.
24/10/2023
Despite significant investments in promotional efforts and seeking expert advice over the past three decades, Sri Lanka's tourism industry has yet to establish a consistent and recognizable tourism logo. It is evident that destination tagline has undergone multiple revisions during this period; however, the changes in logo design and color schemes have transpired without clear, substantiated reasoning. This absence of a well-defined rationale for such alterations warrants a thorough examination and discussion. It is our hope that the forthcoming logo and destination tagline, set to launch in November 2023, have addressed these concerns comprehensively and effectively.
06/10/2023
SMEs within the Sri Lanka tourism sector play a crucial role in fostering sustainable development. Unfortunately, government support in the past five years has been notably sluggish. From my observations, a pronounced lack of collaboration exists among government departments intricately linked to Sri Lankan tourism. Specifically, the wildlife, forest, and archaeological departments have, over the years, failed to prioritize actions supporting sustainable tourism development. This stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the pivotal role tourism plays in conserving Sri Lanka's resources sustainably. Banks exhibit hesitancy in funding the tourism sector, and SMEs continue to grapple with persistent challenges. Consequently, it is imperative for policymakers to address these issues in the coming years, recognizing tourism as a pivotal contributor to the Sri Lankan economy. A piece of the ideas that I shared during the tourism day celebration event on the 27th of September at the Management and Science University.
16/06/2023
My latest research publication in the field of tourism marketing.
Publishing a research paper is a great achievement specially when you are a industry professional. I extend all the gratitudes to my lecturers and supervisors for guiding me.
Link: https://icrrd.com/article/340/moderating-impact-of-online-reputation-management-on-firm-created-contents-and-the-online-reputation-of-destination-management-companies-in-sri-lanka-tourism-industry
29/01/2023
05/10/2022
There is no doubt that we have missed two outstanding women leaders for the Industry. When the industry understand what they have done and were planning to do, it is too late. I wish you both a happy farewell. Kimarli Fernando Dammika Wijesighe
A must visited discussion..
29/09/2022
සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය සහ හෙට දවස..
සංචාරක ව්යවසායක,
කථිකාචාර්ය
රුවන් රත්නායක මහතා සමඟ...
2022 09 29 බ්රහස්පතින්දා රාත්රි 8.30 ට
Facebook ඔස්සේ සජීවීව..
Now it is right time to rethink about tourism. Happy world tourism day for everyone who celebrate on 27th September 2022.
11/09/2022
Visit Sri Lanka! We are not poor though our politicians try to make us poor..
Sri Lanka is recovering. Most of the european countries including UK, France, Switzerland, Norway and Canada have relaxed travel restrictions against Sri Lanka. Tourism Industry is hopeful.. 🥂
Though the international media exaggerated the real issue in Sri Lanka, the economic situation was not that worst to stop tourist arrivals. As a nation who suffered due to a 30 years war, we were able to stand up very strongly when the tsunami hits us in 2004 and terrorists attack us on the Easter Sunday of 2019. We also faced the COVID-19 very effectively and tourism movement was started well before the most of other destinations in the Asian region. The country was hit by the economic crisis during the last four months but the tourism movements were contouring as the local supply chain was not interrupted by the economic crisis. The industry has now adopted new strategies to avoid a potential fuel shortage for the tourism with sound mechanisms and we are ready to welcome a good traffic from the international tourists during the coming winter season. Sri Lanka has plenty of things to see and do for the tourists and we are happy to provide our renowned hospitality to them with happy smiles.
26/07/2022
If the government identify strategic priorities, they will never miss the opportunity to build the brand Sri Lanka and earn much needed foreign currency for the country through tourism.
21/07/2022
Visit Sri Lanka! We need you more than ever before.
We are screwed by the system that we have created in this country. What we get is the result of what we did. It is high time to change ourselves.
19/07/2022
Good News..
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa withdraws from race for President
Details: https://news1st.lk/3aMGtSf .- newsfirst.lk
Sajith Premadasa withdraws from race for President COLOMBO (News 1st); Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has withdrawn from the race for President. In a tweet the Opposition Leader said the Samagi Jana - Get the latest breaking news and top stories from Sri Lanka, the latest political news, sports news, weather updates, exam results, business news,...
මෙය ජනතාව විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට දෙන අවසන් අවස්ථාව විය හැක. රට වෙනුවෙන් තීරණ ගන්න දේශපාලන බඩජාරින්ට හැකි වේවා !
අද සහ හෙට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව වට කරන්න යාමෙන් වලකින්න. පාර්ලිමේන්තු විසදුමට සමාජ මාධ්ය හරහා බලපෑම් කරන්න. ඔවුන්ට මෙය විසඳන්න කල් දෙන්න. නැත්නම් රට අරාජික වේවි.
12/07/2022
I was so proud to address the audience at gotagama exactly 2 months ago and meet this big hearted lady who was pregnant at that time to discuss how we can win this battle. Her sacrifices are not wasted. Happy to see the smiles on her face today. Yasodhara Pathanjali
අරගලය සැබෑ ජයග්රහණයක් වෙනුවෙන් දියත් කළ යුතුයි !
24/02/2022
10 Stunning Nature Lodges in Sri Lanka - Trips To Discover Tucked away in the thick forests, perched high atop the mountains or situated perfectly alongside beautiful streams and lakes: it’s hard to find a nature lodge in Sri Lanka that doesn’t come with breathtakingly beautiful views. In fact, we’re not really sure such a place even exists. Promising...
30/11/2021
Technology and Innovation will drive the future of Event Industry by giving more opportunities for innovative entrepreneurs to build their businesses successfully in the future. COVID-19 has not just been a challenge but it is an opportunity as well. A piece of discussion we had during the event "The Future of Event Industry" that was organized by the final year students of Event Management Degree at MSI. I was surprised by the organising capacity of the students. Well done everyone !
25/11/2021
Leadership is something that is required to be developed for a better future of Sri Lanka. It was an honour to be a guest speaker in Resilience Building and Innovative Leadership program that was organized by MSI Events. Thanks Mr. Suranga Tennakoon and Mr. Samantha Peiris for organising this wonderful event with tourism and hospitality management students.
30/09/2021
It was an honour to be one of the panelists at the tourism day celebrations event conducted by the Ceylon Hotel school (SLITHM) with over 500 participants via the Zoom platform. Competitions, knowledge sharing sessions and entertainments added so much colour to the celebration. The students of SLITHM showcased their professionalism, skills and attitudes during this event. The Tourism Club, academics, non-academics and all others who were behind this event should be greatly appreciated.
29/09/2021
Sri Lanka needs an internal marketing approach at the regional level to attract the stakeholders back to industry and regain their confidence before initiating external marketing campaigns. Men, women, rich, poor, big, small, able, differently able and everyone of the stakeholders should be involved in the tourism value chain where the benefits can be given to all. Building this ecosystem in the industry is very important right now. Sri Lanka should avoid mass tourism for the next 12 months and pay attention to attract niche markets with different product offerings and value additions to increase the yield percentage of the tourists. Better communication, regional level positioning, stakeholder engagement, niche marketing, product development, CBT concepts, responsible tourism models are some of the better strategies during the new normal. We need to inculcate the lessons learned through the pandemic and exploit the opportunities with an innovative approach. Technology is changing at a fast rate. The AI technology will enable the customers to communicate verbally with devices in the future. We need to make sure we are there to exploit the opportunities and face the digital transformation successfully. Sri lanka needs to target 10 billion US dollars not five million tourists. Our marketing has never produced expected results, it is high time to pay attention to regional level branding and destination positioning before doing an edible destination marketing campaign for the country. Ruwan Ratnayaka
Click on the link to watch the full program
https://www.facebook.com/MSI.Colombo/videos/4961839177177481/
18/09/2021
Untapped potentials of wedding and honeymoon tourism in Sri Lanka ! You can watch this webinar if you missed it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/168sKGJz5Tt6inLJU18VWXDhsCGG7CfXx/view?usp=drivesdk
Topic: Wedding Tourism
Time: Sep 18, 2021 02:00 PM Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi
Join Zoom Meeting
https://learn.zoom.us/j/69664299155?pwd=bkhBYVNKbGg0OXp1OWpldnh1WnFUUT09
Meeting ID: 696 6429 9155
Passcode: Q7EeSkD*
I have seen most of the graduates are trying to earn quick money without even paying attention to build their careers. Most of these are temporary or illegal business models with high risks. Money should be earned in a sustainable manner. As graduates, we must pay attention to create a long-term success.
Why do most of the state graduates fail in Sri Lanka tourism industry?
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