Chalaka Gajabahu, the chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, was recently chosen to serve as the Vice Chair of the Competitiveness Committee of the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
One of the UNWTO’s technical committees, the Committee on Tourism and Competitiveness (CTC), is a subordinate body of the Executive Council. The Committee was founded in May 2013 during the 95th Executive Council session in Belgrade, Serbia. At its 96th session, the Executive Council approved its composition and Rules of Procedure.
Since its founding in 2013, CTC has concentrated much of its efforts on determining the critical components of “tourism competitiveness” and evaluating the current level of knowledge regarding this concept. According to the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, this effort has also involved identifying, creating, and unifying operational definitions, models, and concepts that are utilized throughout the tourism value chain.
“I am delighted to have been elected Vice Chair of the CTC under the UNWTO and support the role in the best way possible,” Mr. Gajabahu stated in response to a question about the situation. As the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, working under the direction of the Hon. Harin Fernando, the Minister of Tourism, I recognize the value of fine-tuning a dialogue mechanism between the public and private sectors in order to increase the competitiveness of the tourism industry. Without a doubt, this chance will provide me with a platform to further grow and enhance the competitive landscape—a crucial tool in the development of tourism.
In order to guarantee consistency and agreement in the delivery of the outputs and support the official position of the Organization, the UNWTO places special emphasis on creating synergies and strategic alignments in the harmonization of the related activities of the Secretariat as well as other cooperating organizations.
In order to give UNWTO Members and other tourism stakeholders a comprehensive and succinct conceptual framework that is operational, applicable, and globally relevant, it is crucial to create a shared understanding of the operational definitions used in the tourism value chain. This understanding should include both quantitative and qualitative factors that explain competitiveness at the destination level, which can then be translated into technical guidelines that make it easier for destinations to identify and assess their own factors of competitiveness.
