LUXURY ECO-RESORT HOTEL VIL UYANA AND

JETWING DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

In 2006, nine months before the launch of the luxury

eco-resort Vil Uyana in Sri Lanka, the Jetwing Youth
Development Project (JYDP) was initiated with the
strong support of the local Buddhist temples. As a
result, 40 young villagers were trained and employed
to work in the hospitality sector. Jetwing Hotels, a
local company, owns hotels, Ayurveda resorts and
‘In our company we
colonial style hotels at tea plantations in Sri Lanka. Its try to allow the ideas
management has a broad vision of corporate social to grow up.’
and environmental policy, evidenced in their flat
- Mr Jude Kasturi
hierarchy and innovative approaches to problems.
Arachchi
All of the hotels practice responsible environmental (Group Engineer,
management keeping with existing laws and Jetwing)
regulations, sound practices of energy and water
conservation, air quality management, pollution
reduction, use of environment-friendly resources,
recycling and environmentally friendly purchasing
have been introduced.

Concept of Hotel Vil Uyana and Jetwing Youth Development Project

In October 2006, Jetwing Hotels opened a new hotel called Vil Uyana. It is located near Sigiriya Rock
Fortress, a heritage hotspot in the centre of Sri Lanka’s
  the so-called Cultural Triangle because of its Buddhist
temples, ancient ruins and national parks.

Vil Uyana is the first hotel in the world to include a

wetland system. Its lakes and reed-beds form a private
nature reserve that provides a haven for wildlife and a
setting of peace and tranquillity for guests. This man-
made reserve integrates 25 private wooden luxury
chalets, designed to reflect Sri Lanka’s local and rural
traditions.

Because of its high-quality services, complex

environmental management and community
participation, the USP for the Hotel Vil Uyana is ‘Extreme Eco and Extreme Luxury’
From its very inception, the hotel was invited to be a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

Rationale for the Jetwing Youth Development Project (JYDP)

The huge manpower shortage in Sri Lanka has worsened as skilled employees are increasingly
attracted to the Middle East, the Maldives, Europe and Canada. Moreover, the country faces the
massive problem of youth unemployment, particularly in rural areas where the schools do not
prepare the students for skilled jobs. Even those in good academic standing are often not accepted
into universities or within the economic mainstream. The wait can be long and frustrating and these
young people often end up taking whatever jobs are available simply to survive.

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Jetwing envisions tourism as the ideal vehicle to minimise these problems. To build potential within
the industry, they developed the Jetwing Youth Development Project (JYDP) providing hospitality
training, at no cost, to rural young men and women who had completed basic schooling but were
unemployed, as well as to some adult women (ages 40 to 50) who were the sole providers for their
families.

Aims of JYDP
The Jetwing Youth Development Project was designed to improve the Sri Lankan tourism sector in
four ways:
• Addressing and offering a solution to the manpower shortage in their own hotels and
in the Sri Lankan hotel industry in general.
• Involving local communities in tourism, sharing its benefits.
• Helping resolve the unemployment problem among Sri Lankan youth.
• Providing the frustrated youth with gainful employment.

‘Being with the commu-
nity was our idea. From
the very beginning we felt
very
confident working with
these communities.’
– Mr Kumara Senarathne
(Head of Human Resourc-
es, Jetwing Hotels)
Involvement of Stakeholders
Before starting the project, Jetwing informed
important stakeholders about the planned project.
Thus, local Buddhist monks, principal teachers,
government authorities and interested parents
learned of the company’s intention to offer English
lessons followed by hospitality training at no cost to
unemployed youth in the region.
The idea was especially supported by two chief
Buddhist monks, who distributed the application
forms to potential trainees and even offered to
arrange for classes to be held at Buddhist temples
in the neighbouring communities of Kimbissa and
Rangirigama.

English Language Lessons

In January 2006, the project began by offering lessons in the English language to 120 unemployed
youths in the area (86 boys and 34 girls). After 2 weeks, those young people who had attended
initially out of curiosity did not return. No allowance was paid to the trainees during that initial period
because Jetwing wanted be sure that only those truly interested in such work would participate in
the programme.

Jetwing believes that learning English is a vital step toward a fulfilling career. The programme is
therefore intended to provide youth from the rural school system with a working knowledge of the
English language, enabling them to express themselves as well as understand others. The company
was extremely fortunate in enlisting a local, highly experienced teacher for the JYDP who could train
the students in practical English, using role-play in a series of real-life situations, as well as exercises in
grammar, general knowledge and Western customs.

The Jetwing English course was divided into two classes per week, with a total of 96 hours of instruction
per class. The English training continued once a week during the first year after the opening of Vil
Uyana. Now, 2 years later, the majority of the participants speak moderate to good English, and some
have even reached a level of excellence.

Training in Life Skills and Hotel Operations

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After a 4-week period of English instruction,
Jetwing began adding entry-level industry training.
They started with a general introduction to life
skills, including self-development through personal
hygiene, good grooming and a positive attitude. ‘I expected that Jetwing
would ask me to teach the
After 4 weeks, trainees were assigned to various staff – but not the villagers.
areas of hotel operation. This was followed by entry- The Jetwing people are not
level training in the hotel staff village in the areas of conventional people, they
front office, housekeeping, food and beverage and have very practical ap-
kitchen operations. One-day excursions to other proaches to problems.’
Jetwing Hotels were organised to offer the trainees – Mr Bernard Kasthuri Ku-
further insight into the daily routine of hotel mara (English Teacher)
operations. Instructions were given in both Sinhala,
the trainees’ mother-tongue, and English.

Since the trainees had very little knowledge about the area, Jetwing also introduced them to the
cultural history of the Sigiriya area, including classes on the country’s diverse flora and fauna as part
of a larger lesson about environmentally-friendly hotel management.

The training was based on Jetwing’s clearly defined corporate ethos; its vision, mission, core values
and corporate stance on customer care and etiquette:
• Life skills – the importance and benefits of employment
• Teamwork
• Meditation
• Mind enrichment – appreciating the meaning of life; finding your own identity; medi-
tating, contemplating and thinking positively; showing humility, kindness and love
• Mind cleansing – avoiding jealousy, anger, hatred, snobbishness, uncooperativeness
and other behaviours that hamper an individual’s performance
• Appreciation, respect for others, willingness to admit mistakes

Many of the trainees felt that this curriculum helped both personally and professionally, building
their team-work skills and discipline.

‘I learned a lot of things, not
only tourism – especially
what is important about
work – how to work with my
colleagues without having
any arguments.’
– Ms Amali Liyanage, age
22 (Assistant Receptionist,
Front Office)
Ceremony
After 5 months, 50% of the students graduated,
60 in total, and organised their own graduation
ceremony, which was held in June 2006 under
the distinguished patronage of the Secretary to
the Ministry of Tourism, representatives of the
media and other dignitaries. This ceremony was
an extremely important event for the trainees; a
chance to demonstrate what they had achieved in
the past months. Afterwards, they moved into the
hotel for the final 4 months of preparation before
the hotel was opened. About 40 graduates were
employed by Jetwing. The English and hospitality
training continued for one more year on a regular
basis.

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‘This project has been a tremendous success.
Most of these children, not knowing how
to write even their name when they joined,
are now able to carry on a simple, decent
conversation with the discerning clientele.’ – Mr
Kumar Senaratne (Head of Human Resources,
Jetwing)

Gender Considerations
Especially among rural people in Sri Lanka,
tourism does not have a good reputation, as it is
commonly associated with ‘sun, sand and sex’.
At first, some parents were wary about sending
their young daughters to the training classes.
But when it was made clear that Jetwing has
a strict policy against sexual harassment in
the workplace, the young women and their
parents felt that they would be safe and secure
at Vil Uyana.

Investment
Jetwing itself invested a total of US$7,500 in
these training activities, including the English
classes.
 
Benefits for All Stakeholders
The benefits achieved so far are diverse, as
  reflected in the stakeholders’ responses to in-
depth interviews conducted in September
2008 by a consultant of German Technical
Cooperation (GTZ). Below is a summary of
selected comments and feedback from the 29
interview partners.

From participants of JYDP and staff of Vil

Uyana:
• Stable economic situation (fixed in-
come); the income is between 8,000 and 15,000
rupees (US$80-150), including service charges.
Most of the young staff deposit 10-20% or even
more of their salary into a bank account and
spend the rest on daily living expenses or to support to their parents.
• The salary is comparable to other jobs in this area, such as working as a bus driver
(15,000 rupees) or as a soldier (25,000 rupees). Due to the civil war in Sri Lanka, all
hotels in the country face a critical situation regarding their low occupancy rate.
The same applies to Vil Uyana, with an average occupancy rate of 20-30% in 2007
and 2008. For that reason, the service charge and tips are not as high as expected.
Nevertheless, no complaints have been made about this situation, since these
young people are all aware that with one or two more years of experience in this
upper-market hotel they can easily find a good-paying and skilled job in the tour-
ism industry in the Maldives or the Middle East for a planned time frame of 2 to 4

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 years.
• Official certificates are presented to those participants who pass their examina-
tions, giving them good standing for interviews at other hotels in Sri Lanka or
abroad.
• Annual challenges/contests among Jetwing hotels generate pride and confidence
among Vil Uyana staff, since they are often among the winners in each category
(barmen, cooking, reception, housekeeping, etc.).
• Lectures about environmentally-friendly hotel management.
• Improved image within the community.

From communities near Vil Uyana:

• Support for three Buddhist temples (water tanks, meditation chambers, meeting
hall, monthly aliments).
• Infrastructure in neighbouring villages (paved road, electricity, supported excava-
tion for water pipelines, a laboratory for the village school, painting and cleaning
of the local hospital.
• Support of the New Year Festival and other events
Small food supply (staff sells herbal products and fruit to Vil Uyana).

From Jetwing Hotels – Vil Uyana:

• Good relationship with communities and authorities in the region, eliminating lo-
cal resistance to the construction of the hotel.
• Trained staff who understand the vision, mission and core values of the Jetwing
Family.
• Staff are local residents, which means that they can go home after their shifts and
enjoy time with their family instead of spending only 3 or 4 days a month with
them after exhausting, time-consuming travel.
• Very few thefts have been reported at the hotel site, even during construction.

Outlook
In April 2007, Vil Uyana was awarded a Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Grand Award in the
Education and Training category for its Youth Development Project. Jetwing plans to use this project
as a model for all their hotels and for new investments by adapting the principles to the local
circumstances.

‘Our pilot project has proved that rural youth are highly service-orientated, very focused on customer-
care, and demonstrated their unique suitability for the tourism industry. We will be applying the
lessons learned from our Sigiriya development project at our other hotels elsewhere in Sri Lanka.’
– Mr Kumara Senaratne (Head of Human Resources, Jetwing)

The participants of the Jetwing Youth Development Project themselves have different perspectives
regarding their future. Nearly all hope to improve their English skills and computer knowledge. Most of
them also want to climb the career ladder by becoming executive chefs or guides or even by working
abroad in the Maldives or the Middle East. Jetwing whole-heartedly approves of these aspirations,
since the JYDP initiative was designed not only to develop rural youth for suitable employment
within Jetwing Hotels but also to create opportunities for them to find employment with other hotels
in the country or overseas. The company believes that most of them will return to a Jetwing Hotel
after a few years, having been inspired by their new experiences and skills, but also dedicated to the
core values they learned from the Jetwing Family.

As a result of their experiences and training at Vil Uyana, and with the certificates they hold in their

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 hands, these young professionals from rural Sri Lanka will undoubtedly have the chance to achieve
their professional dreams. ‘We dreamed a dream’ has become a reality.

Fur further information, please contact:

Trevor Reckerman Head Of Marketing

Company: Jetwing Hotels Ltd.
Tel: 94 11 2345700 Ext – 302
Tel.: +94 77 2772001 (Mobile)
Fax: +94 11 2345729
E-mail: trevor@jetwing.lk