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Crisis hits tourism: Sun, fun and sand no more?

29 May 2022

  • Fuel shortage hurts tourist bookings 
  • Local travellers unable to visit
  • Situation is pitiful: Tourism Ministry
  • Stops tourism promotion activities
  • Arrivals drop from 100,000 to under 30,000 in two months
  • Declaration of State of Emergency and lack of essentials affected tourism: Hettiarachchi
By Skandha Gunasekara  Neville Weerasinghe, Co-Owner of Silaa Cabana, Trincomalee, told The Sunday Morning that guest reservations were continuing to drop. “It is the toughest challenge as a hotelier since the Covid-19 pandemic,” Weerasinghe said, explaining that he only had two reservations made by guests at the last minute on Friday (27), and that he prayed that more would arrive soon. Weerasinghe (48) and his wife co-own the Silaa Cabana – an elegant yet humble hotel featuring eight cabanas on Uppuveli Beach in Trincomalee. They have been in the industry since 2015. After closing the hotel during the peak of the pandemic, the Weerasinghes decided to reopen their hotel in April this year and had record bookings that month. “We decided to return to Trinco in April this year as we had seen good arrivals in the past several months and were hopeful that tourism would boom once again. In fact, we had more bookings this April than we had in April 2018,” Weerasinghe said. With a rating of 9.1 on Booking.com, Silaa Cabana is usually fully booked months ahead of the season spanning from June to September, with May seeing frequent arrivals. However, this year, bookings for this month augur a possibly bad season ahead. “In the last month and a half, we had a lot of travellers staying with us, with some weeks being fully booked. But in the last week we saw a reduction with maybe only one room booked a day. We are fortunate in a way because even if the area doesn’t get a lot of visitors we get chosen by tourists because we have good ratings on online booking platforms,” he said. Noting that their market was usually midrange travellers from the middle and lower middle class of Europe – particularly Eastern Europe, Weerasinghe opined that it was the fuel crisis more than anything else that impacted tourism. “These kinds of travellers aren’t really deterred by the protests or even the power cuts – as long as there is transport to and from Colombo, they will adapt and plan their way around the power cuts. I believe the biggest issue is the fuel shortage, which prevents easy access to transport. Usually, weekends are when local tourists come but they too are unable to do so because of the fuel shortage.” Ministry stops promotional activities  From the Government’s perspective, Ministry of Tourism Secretary S. Hettiarachchi painted a bleak picture. With the economic crisis at its worst, Hettiarachchi revealed that the Government had suspended all tourism promotional activities. “The situation is very bad and we are not seeing an improvement. We are not doing any promotional work. The last two events were done in Dubai and India a few months ago but we have not planned anything going forward. There is no point in promoting tourism in Sri Lanka as we cannot provide the basic requirements, especially transport, electricity, and gas. It is a very pitiful situation, and I don’t know what to do.” He shared that tourist arrivals that exceeded 100,000 in the month of March had dropped to less than 30,000 in May. “In March we had more than 100,000 tourists. In April it dropped to 62,960 and in the first half of May the figures dropped to 21,958.” Hettiarachchi opined that the declaration of Emergency regulations played the biggest role in deterring tourists from visiting the country. “In addition to the lack of essentials, I believe the protests were a factor in the drop in tourists. The imposition of Emergency regulations and curfew made it worse. We saw a large number of bookings being cancelled because of the imposition of curfew.” Noting that they had not met the new Minister of Tourism, Hettiarachchi said that staff was unable to make decisions until the Minister revealed his plans. “The new Minister was recently appointed but we haven’t held any meetings with him yet. I came to know he had held a meeting with industry stakeholders but we were not invited. My position as Secretary is still uncertain. As such, we are unable to take any decisions or action.” Industry veterans cautiously optimistic  Meanwhile, The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President N. Shanthikumar, an industry veteran, said fuel shortages along with the lack of other essentials were to blame for the tourism losses this early on in the year, noting that the peaceful protests were in fact an attraction of sorts. “I think it was a combination of factors that had an impact – starting from the political instability and then the economic crisis. I don’t think the protests had an impact. It was a people’s protest and we even saw tourists joining them – it was like a carnival for them. The fuel issue is critical but we are managing for now. Looking at the Government, we think that the power cuts will be reduced and the availability of fuel and gas will also be resolved.” Shanthikumar said that the industry hoped things would pick up once again following the lifting of the Emergency regulations. “There is no improvement and there are some concerns. Now that the State of Emergency has been lifted, maybe people will start considering visiting Sri Lanka again, but the level of reservations is still low.” He added that they were optimistic about the role the newly-appointed Minister would play. “The industry is in touch with the Minister and the young Minister is very positive, so we are very comfortable working with him. I believe he will do something to bring in more tourists,” Shanthikumar said.     Silaa Cabana’s Weerasinghe expressed his optimism that tourism would regain traction once again in the coming months. “We are hopeful that tourists will come. We are aware that the numbers might not be as high as 2018 or before, but we are optimistic that the wonders and beauty of this island nation and the hospitality of our people will entice foreigners to visit us.”  


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