Building an Evidence-based Tourism Development Decision-making Culture in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority
Destination: Sri Lanka
Engagement: 2020
Still grappling with tourism’s decline following the 2019 Easter terrorist attacks, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) needed to understand COVID-19’s compounding effects – and devise a path forward to recover the national tourism economy.
While SLTDA understood that data and research inputs were needed to support a recovery plan (a global marketing plan specifically), there was a large gap in both the availability of data and research and technical expertise to analyze and interpret the results. SLTDA in partnership with Market Development Facility, an Australian Aid funded development organization retained Twenty31 to help build research and analysis capability within SLTDA and the broader tourism industry.
Stakeholder engagement
We developed and launched a needs assessment survey among a broad stakeholder audience including government officials, tourism industry businesses, academic institutions, and tourism industry associations. The survey aimed to identify research and data needs based on product and experience development, marketing and investment attraction challenges. The results informed a gap analysis designed to probe the disconnect between stakeholder needs and current research, data and insights generation capabilities of SLTDA.
Research planning
We developed a comprehensive multi-year market research plan with identified initiatives, funding sources, and linkage to informing tourism and economic development recovery initiatives.
Innovation labs and workshops
To test the plan, we hosted a series of Innovation Labs with groups of SLTDA marketing managers, the organization’s management team and key industry stakeholders. Research insights were linked to potential tourism recovery efforts and assessed via a series of scenarios.
Capacity building and skills training
Using the research plan we created a series of 50 training modules and hosted weekly research training and capacity building sessions with SLTDA’s research team and select industry stakeholders. Research design, research methodologies, primary and secondary analysis techniques and applied research insights were explained to participants via one- to two-hour skills-transfer and training sessions.
As part of the two-year capacity building program, we worked closely with SLTDA’s research team to revamp and relaunch a program of monthly research insights studies and associated workshops. These studies and workshops informed the tourism industry’s decisions on how to allocate limited marketing resources, how to position the destination with international travel trade partners, and what high-value market segments to engage with.
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