The Sri Lankan hotel sector is in for a boost this year with Sri Lanka’s own leader in the international hospitality industry, Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena, DPhil, MSc, CHE, FIH, billed to visit his motherland in June and July.
During his visit to Sri Lanka, Dr. Jayawardena is expected to conduct two training workshops for the hospitality sector in Colombo and Kandy. He will also offer a limited number of individually tailored consultations for hotels.
The forthcoming program in Sri Lanka is presented by Rainbow Resources Sri Lanka Ltd., (www.rainbow.lk), a consultancy company led by communications specialist Manique Mendis. Tourism expert Priantha Fernando will be the national facilitator for Dr. Jayawardena’s program in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Jayawardena, who is now based in Canada, has emerged as a highly-sought-after trainer and consultant in the international hospitality industry. He has held senior management positions in South Asia, Middle East, Europe, South America, the Caribbean and North America and held accountability for budgets of $ 30 million, 700 employees and 3,300 students.
As an international hotelier he has served 34 heads of state/government, including Queen Elizabeth II, President Fidel Castro and Prime Minister John Major. He is a past President of the world’s largest professional association for hospitality managers – HCIMA (now the Institute of Hospitality, UK). He has also conducted leadership workshops for Fallsview Casino in Canada, Four Point Sheraton – Kitchener in Canada, Aitken Spence Hotels in the Maldives and Dubai Sofitel in UAE and quality assurance assignments for Super Club Breezes in the Bahamas, Le Meridien Dubai in UAE and Le Meridien King Edward Hotel in Canada. He has travelled to 93 countries and presented at conferences, seminars and other forums in 38 of those countries. His publication record includes 17 books/journal issues and 91 articles.
Dr. Jayawardena’s workshops in Sri Lanka are scheduled for 28 and 29 June in Colombo at the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management and in Kandy on 1 and 2 July at the Randholee Luxury Resort. The two-day training workshops will revolve around the theme of ‘Innovative Hotel Management for the Future’.
The program will commence by looking at lessons learned from the past and will move on to key issues under the topics of sustainability , marketing, quality, innovation and human resource development. It will also focus on challenges including crisis management and the way forward for the future.
The individual consultancies for hotels will be tailored to meet the specific needs of the relevant hotels. Some of the suggested areas are as follows: Comprehensive operational audit based strategic plan, change management, group SWOT, personality analysis (of each manager) competitor analysis, pricing, practical management tips and team work, team building through group art (a novel concept developed by Dr. Jayawardena)
Places for both workshops and time slots for the individual consultations are limited and are filling up fast. Therefore early registration is advisable.
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