As a schoolboy in Calcutta, Sibi Mathew was headed for engineering. Then he watched a new luxury Taj Hotel rise less than two kilometres from his home. Now General Manager of Taj Bentota Resort & Spa in Sri Lanka, he tells Robyn Foyster why guests return for the people and the extraordinary location, and why Sri Lanka has become such a hot destination.
There’s a word I keep hearing about the Taj group: Tajness. So when I sat down with Sibi Mathew at Taj Bentota Resort & Spa on Sri Lanka’s south-west coast, fresh from a sublime two-hour massage and a curry lesson with his head chef, it was the question I most wanted answered.
His answer has nothing to do with the rooms, even though he has just led a US$9 million renovation of the splendid 27-year-old resort, including every one of its rooms. In season, up to 40 per cent of his guests are repeat visitors, and he says they come back for the people they’ve come to know.
It’s a philosophy shaped by 26 years in hospitality, 20 of them with Taj. Sibi grew up when five-star hotels were only just arriving in India, and like most students around him he was steered towards engineering or medicine. Then the Taj went up less than two kilometres from where he lived in Calcutta, and he saw how it changed that part of the city. His career has since taken him to Bhutan, where he helped open a resort just as the country was opening itself to the world, and to Kerala, before he arrived in Sri Lanka as things were bouncing back after COVID.
His timing was good. Sri Lanka has reached its highest tourism numbers, with almost 2.4 million annual visitors, and with direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne taking about 10 hours, more Australians are discovering it too.
In this first episode of Game Changers Series 20, which features leaders on the global travel stage, we talk about Sri Lanka’s comeback, the rise of women travelling solo and what Tajness really means.
Listen to my full Game Changers interview with Sibi Mathew above, or on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Sri Lanka’s comeback
Robyn Foyster:
Sri Lanka has been on quite a rollercoaster since COVID, but you were telling me last night that you have a higher rate of people staying here than ever before, particularly from India. What’s changed?
Sibi Mathew:
In the last three years, the biggest factor that has helped things stabilise is stable governance and a stable government. The tourism numbers have come back in a short span to the best-ever numbers. Despite the hiccups that happened with the war in the Middle East, the country immediately bounced back. We had a slightly rough phase for a couple of months when the war began in early March. March and April were a little hit because some of our key feeder markets travel through the Middle East, and we had cancellations.
But other markets immediately substituted those visitors, and one of the bigger ones was India, because it’s so close and so well connected. Despite being a neighbouring country, Indians were also beginning to discover the beauty and the culture of Sri Lanka. There are now flights connecting to more than 15 locations in India, which is really helping increase the numbers, not only in terms of leisure tourists but also in the corporate and wedding segments. All of this is coming together.
Robyn Foyster:
People also seem to have realised since COVID that rather than saving all their money and leaving it to their children as a big inheritance, they should spend it on themselves, perhaps on some wellness and R&R. Is that right?
Sibi Mathew:
That is definitely a post-COVID trend. People used to take two holidays a year at the most. What we’re seeing now is people taking more breaks. Maybe shorter breaks, but more of them, because they value family time and they do not want to postpone things to another day in the future. It’s all the more good for hotels, because we’re seeing not only people coming from outside the country but also guests from nearby cities who travel out with their families on the weekends. They want a different location with their near and dear ones, and that’s where they’re beginning to discover hotels like ours more often.
Robyn Foyster:
It’s that multi-generational travel, where you have different conversations in a different location. When my sons come home it’s just, “What are we eating?” But when we’re away together, we’re thinking of things to do together, and it’s very different, isn’t it?
Sibi Mathew:
It is. And I think the day and age of only families travelling is gone. Of course families travel, but we also see friends travelling, solo travellers and grandchildren travelling with their grandparents. The segment of travellers is gradually expanding, which is a new trend, and that’s encouraging.
Robyn Foyster:
I’m a solo female traveller, here at your beautiful hotel experiencing the Tajness we’ve been talking about. There are a lot of women in their 50s and 60s now travelling with their girlfriends or on their own. It seems to be a very big trend.
Sibi Mathew:
Very true. We’re seeing that as an increasing trend in this part of the world as well, from India, which is the largest source market for Sri Lanka, and also locally. We see a lot of youngsters who have probably just completed an exam and come over for the weekend. We see a bride coming over with her friends. We see corporates who get away just to have a good time.
Robyn Foyster:
If I go on a work trip, I add on some leisure. I was recently in Shanghai doing interviews, so I added a few more days and climbed Huangshan, the Yellow Mountains in China’s Anhui province. I think people have that mentality now.
Sibi Mathew:
True, and I think that’s a trend to stay. It’s so encouraging because right now there is significant demand growth, and it takes time for supply to catch up. Sri Lanka has already reached its highest numbers of almost 2.4 million annual visitors, and the country is poised to grow well in the years to come. It has so much to offer, from the resplendent beaches in the south to the hill country, to culture, wildlife and marine life. That’s what people are slowly discovering, including Australia, which is becoming a big market. We’re proud to say that we now have direct connectivity with Australia, so in times to come I think Australia will also be a commanding market for Sri Lanka.
Sibi Mathew: from Calcutta to Bhutan
Robyn Foyster:
Going back to your earlier life, you grew up in India and you’re originally from Kerala in the south, which I’ve just come from. What was life like as a young boy?
Sibi Mathew:
Life was very simple and different. When we were growing up, we did not know five-star hotels, to be frank, because they were just coming into play in India in those days. Hospitality used to be spoken about as an industry that would eventually grow, but as youngsters in school we were guided by parents and teachers into the normal streams of education, like engineering and medicine. So we grew up thinking of pursuing those careers.
But I was attracted towards this industry because I saw the Taj Hotel in Calcutta, where I spent a good part of my childhood. I saw the Taj come up in front of my eyes. It was being built less than two kilometres from where I stayed. The moment the Taj came into that part of the city, we saw how things changed in that location, and for the city as a whole.
I also had a couple of cousins in the industry who were getting a lot of opportunities early in life. They were hardly in their late 20s and they had already grown into managerial positions. So we thought, yes, it’s going to be a field that will grow, the way tourism is poised to grow in Sri Lanka now. That’s how it started.
Robyn Foyster:
I’ve just come from the beautiful Taj Exotica in the Maldives and, before that, the Taj hotel in New Delhi. It’s one of the strongest brands in the nation, quite rightly so, and it’s given you a lot of opportunity too, hasn’t it? Where have you worked with the Taj?
Sibi Mathew:
I started off in the beautiful country of Bhutan, where we opened a lovely resort in this mystical country. It was only opening itself to the world at that time. Even now, I wouldn’t call travel restricted, but they are guided by how they promote tourism. They have a minimum stay tariff, and in that manner they keep the number of visitors limited. But it’s a very rich experience for those who travel there. It was challenging to open a high-end resort, but it was a lot of learning. That resort did very well once we opened, and we were able to attract travellers from a lot of countries, which helped the country on the whole. Today, we have three beautiful resorts in Bhutan.
From Bhutan I came back to India, where I was General Manager at a beautiful resort in the backwaters called Taj Kumarakom. I then went back to Bhutan to lead the resort as General Manager, and then came back to Kerala as General Manager of a beautiful hotel in Cochin, which is the economic capital of Kerala. It’s a British-era hotel, and we had the opportunity to welcome a lot of important dignitaries during my stint there. From there, I was given the opportunity to come to Sri Lanka.
It was a very interesting phase to come to Sri Lanka, because things were just bouncing back after COVID. I came here when we were also ready to renovate this resort. It’s been here for the last 27 years, but because of what the country had gone through, we were waiting for the right opportunity to invest back into it. I’m proud to share that we have now renovated the entire inventory and almost 70 per cent of the guest spaces, and we have a very good product to offer our guests.
Taj Bentota Resort & Spa in Bentota, Sri Lanka
Robyn Foyster:
I had the most sublime two-hour massage yesterday, and your head chef was kind enough to show me how to make various curries. It’s also spectacular here, with the golden beach and the surf, and it’s not far from the Portuguese and Dutch fort in Galle. There’s so much to do.
Sibi Mathew:
Absolutely. Bentota is poised as a location from which you can travel around a fair part of Sri Lanka. You can go to Galle Fort in the south, go whale watching about two hours from here, go on a wildlife safari, or go up to the elephant sanctuary and come back. In the near vicinity there are a lot of experiences, including a turtle farm, boat safaris and gem shops.
Bentota is poised as a location from which you can travel around a fair part of Sri Lanka.
Sibi Mathew
The beach here in Bentota is among the top 10 beaches as ranked by Tripadvisor. If you were to choose a silent holiday, it’s the perfect place to come and unwind, take long walks on the beach and enjoy our offerings. We have a lovely spa, which is our own brand, J Wellness Circle, where we offer both aroma treatments and Ayurveda treatments. If somebody wants to come for a wellness holiday, we can curate that for them as well. It’s a comprehensive offering, and I’m sure we can please and delight guests who may have different agendas.
Robyn Foyster:
You have your own Ayurveda doctor based here as well. Is that unusual? It seems like a wonderful thing to offer guests.
Sibi Mathew:
Sri Lanka is also known for its Ayurveda. There is a lot of Ayurveda being practised here, so we thought we should offer what the country offers. That’s why we have a resident Ayurveda doctor who can consult you on ailments, on wellness holidays or on whatever your customised requirement may be, so that guests have a more personalised experience. Sri Lanka has a lot of offerings, and Ayurveda is one of them, which we thought was important to market to the world.
Robyn Foyster:
It’s a wonderful ancient medicine that makes common sense to follow, living in nature. I do believe in the philosophy of Ayurveda.
Sibi Mathew:
Very true. As you see, our resort is different to a lot of others. We have about nine acres of garden, most of it leading straight out onto this golden beach, so Ayurveda naturally comes along with all of this. You really feel rejuvenated after a holiday here, but of course you have to come and experience it for yourself.
What is Tajness? Sibi Mathew explains
I’ve been with this company for the last 20 years, and the way I relate to Tajness is in how we conduct our business.
Sibi Mathew
Robyn Foyster:
Taj has this incredible reputation, something to be very proud of. I hear a lot of people talk about Tajness. What is it to you?
Sibi Mathew:
I’ve been with this company for the last 20 years, and the way I relate to Tajness is in how we conduct our business. For us, it’s not only about doing the business. It’s also about building destinations and looking after the people who are with us, be it our employees or our stakeholders. We have team members who have spent their lives here, who started here and have been with us for the last 20, 25 years, ever since the inception of the hotel. You wouldn’t see that in many organisations. They believe in the company and in what they are doing. We can probably say that we’ve taken care of them, and they deliver to our guests beyond a regular transaction. That is what I would say is Tajness.
It’s also the number of repeat visitors who come back to us. Come season, almost 30 to 40 per cent of our guests are repeat guests. They don’t come back because of the physical product. They come back because of our team members, because of the relationships they have built with them. That’s what I would say is Tajness.
Robyn Foyster:
I love that. Thank you very much for your time today, Sibi.
Sibi Mathew:
It’s a delight to have spent time with you and to have you here. We hope to keep welcoming you back, and many other travellers from Australia.
Robyn Foyster:
Just try and keep us away.
About Sibi Mathew
Sibi Mathew is General Manager of Taj Bentota Resort & Spa in Sri Lanka, with 26 years in hospitality and 20 years with Taj. He began with the group in Bhutan, helping to open a resort there and later returning as General Manager. He has also been General Manager of Taj Kumarakom in Kerala’s backwaters and of a British-era hotel in Cochin. In Sri Lanka, he has led the renovation of Taj Bentota.
Read more about Taj:
- Golden Shores and Living History: Taj Bentota and the Soul of South-Western Sri Lanka (Women Love Travel)
- Yoga by the Sea, A River Safari, Mask-Making and Hoppers: My Stay at Taj Bentota (The Carousel)
- The Ancient Ramparts That Saved A Young Boy’s Life: My Day Trip to Galle From Taj Bentota (The Carousel)
- The Magic Is Below the Water: Three Days at Taj Exotica, Maldives (Women Love Travel)
- Recipes from Taj Bentota’s kitchen: chicken coriander curry, kola kanda and sambar (The Carousel)
Be inspired by more Game Changers:
- How Dr David Chapman Is Redefining Accessibility with Ancient History and AI
- Meet 2026 Australian of the Year and Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg
- What Makes A Game Changer?
Watch more Game Changers interviews on our YouTube channel, @gamechangersAU.
