• 40% cancellations and drop in summer bookings: Kariyawasam
• Reports of power, fuel, and food shortages keep tourists away
• Daily power outages a crippling factor

By Uwin Lugoda Reports of Sri Lanka’s worsening economic crisis and related shortages have galvanised a negative image of the country worldwide, leading to a slew of cancellations, pushing the island’s tourism industry on the verge of collapse. While many industry experts, economists, and politicians warned the Government to take corrective measures to prevent the current crisis early last year, the Government continued to move forward in denial, even planning for a ‘tourism revival’ this year. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, leading stakeholders in the industry have expressed concern over the number of cancellations coming their way following the ongoing domestic crises. Prior to this, Sri Lanka reported strong arrival numbers, with the total tourist arrivals from the last three months surpassing the total tourist arrivals in 2021. According to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) data, March 2022 arrivals of 106,500 were the highest monthly arrivals since the first Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020. However, stakeholders stated that the current crises and a negative image of Sri Lanka on social media have led to several cancellations during what should have been a high-yielding summer. “It is bad at the moment. We are receiving around 40% cancellations, and what is more worrying is that our summer bookings have slowed down. We were hoping to have a good summer this year, but due to all these issues, our summer bookings are now getting affected,” said the former President of Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) Mahen Kariyawasan. He stated that the ongoing shortage of essentials such as fuel and gas had negatively impacted the whole industry, while the continuous power cuts had impacted local hoteliers. Moreover, he stated that Sri Lanka’s global image had been damaged due to negative international media representation, some of which reported that the country had no food. Adding to this, The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President M. Shanthikumar stated that the industry was currently on the verge of collapsing due to the current situation. He explained that due to all the shortages, multiple nations had placed travel advisories on Sri Lanka, while others had posted travel warnings. He stated that this had resulted in severe cancellations. “There have been a lot of cancellations on online bookings, and more cancellations are coming. We have no electricity, no petrol and no diesel for our generators, and there has been a lot of negativity towards Sri Lanka on social media,” said Shanthikumar. He stated that one of the biggest issues for local hoteliers was the daily power interruptions. He explained that, unlike for the public, power interruptions for hoteliers meant no air conditioning, a shutdown of their kitchens, and no internet connection. “When it comes to power interruptions, we can handle it for a day, and even the tourists understand. But now we get power interruptions on a daily basis going up to 10-12 hours. Power interruptions go beyond just lights for us, it also means no air conditioning, a shutdown of cooking equipment, and the internet will not work for our guests to communicate with their home countries or carry on their businesses. Even if a hotel has a generator, there is no diesel to power it.” Shanthikumar stated that the entire tourism industry had reached out to the Government in several ways to address these issues. However, the issues have so far not been dealt with. The UK, the US, Canada, and several other countries have recently updated travel advisories on travelling to Sri Lanka, citing the effects of the economic crisis. Such travel advisories will likely hurt high-end tourism and backpacker tourism that Sri Lanka has benefited from in the recent past. Attempts to contact the Ministry of Tourism and the SLTDA regarding these matters were unsuccessful.