Leading Sri Lanka – In The New Normal

BACKGROUND

The Covid-19 Pandemic brought Sri Lankan tourism to an abrupt halt. The indefinite closure of
the International Airport meant that tourists had to postpone their dream holidays indefinitely
or even cancel them. Hotels experienced a forced shut down across the board due to the
prevailing health risks and many employees in this industry were made redundant.

Although the Pandemic is far from over, the world at large is also settling into a new normal. As
the global lockdown eases into cautious socio-economic activities, Sri Lanka too is considering re-
opening the international airport to welcome tourists with new health and safety guidelines in
place. It is also promising to note that Sri Lanka is featured on the list of “safe countries” to travel
to. The consensus is that both tourists and people working in the industry will need to adapt to a
new normal until a COVID-19 vaccine is made available.

The Government of Sri Lanka, the tri-forces, and the Ministry of Health are working closely to
contain the virus within our shores. This effort has also given the tourism sector new hope of
being able to welcome visitors to our shores and breathe much-needed life into the industry. The
tourism industry is composed of multiple layers of stakeholders from government entities, to
associations, to independent operators to hotel chains and conglomerates. These multiple layers
of stakeholders must work in a coordinated manner to not only adhere to safety protocols but
also develop action plans and lead recovery efforts.

Sri Lanka is blessed with a diverse offering of destinations and attractions. The island is home not
only to incredible biodiversity but also to offerings from sports to safaris to culinary adventures
as well as ancient ayurvedic experiences. In short, we have it all. However, a lot of Sri Lanka’s
offerings remain undersold and have not got the larger share of diverse and destination tourism
the Island has the potential to capture.

The time has come to promote Sri Lanka as a safe and secure travel destination that is not to be
missed in 2021. It is also time to reinvent and reposition Sri Lanka as a must experience
destination.

YOUR ROLE
You have been selected by the Sri Lanka Tourism Authority (SLTA) to promote Sri Lanka as a first
choice tourism destination. You are required to write a short report on the subtasks given below
and conduct a ten minute online presentation to the Board of Directors.

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TASK ONE (Report)
Write a short report to the Directors of SLTA, highlighting the importance of Sri Lanka as your
chosen destination. Your short report should address the following subtasks.

a. Advise how SLTA can adopt the four functions of management in improving tourism in the
new normal. Describe the relationship between the functions and, in your opinion, state
which of the four functions is most important.

b. Define leadership and discuss three modern approaches to leadership that can be applied
by the SLTA Board of Directors to revive the Sri Lanka tourism industry post COVID-19.

c. Discuss how the eights steps of Change management can be applied to SLTDA to change
and influence productivity.

d. Briefly explain with examples, three major factors that can be changed to improve SLTA’s
effectiveness in promoting Sri Lanka in the new normal.

Guideline Note 01:

1. Word-Count – 3000 words, 750 for each subtask. (10% +/- variance acceptable).
2. Appropriate theory and concepts must be applied.

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Instructions for Presentations
TASK TWO (Presentation)
You are required to make a 10-minute presentation to the Directors of SLTA to promote Sri Lanka
using concepts in Leadership and Change management to justify your answer.

Presentation Slide Template

Slide 1 Slide 2
Introduction slide. Table of contents

Slide 3 Slide 4

Slide 5 Slide 6

Slide 7 Slide 8
Conclusion Recommendations

Slide 9 Slide 10
References Questions and answers

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IMPORTANT:
Please refrain from copying-and-pasting information from the Internet or other sources. Add your
reference work according to the Harvard referencing format.

Maximum Word Allocation for each task (Excluding cover pages and References)

Task Content Weightage

Task one - 3000 words (Short-report) 80%

20 marks for each subtask.
Task two - (Presentation - no word count, 12 slides max) 20%
20 marks for the presentation.
Total 100%

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