By Easwaran Rutnam The tourism sector in Sri Lanka has taken a severe beating as a result of the political crisis which remained unresolved even last week. City hotels and those outside Colombo suffered room cancellations, a slowdown in bookings, and postponements of some events, as a result of the political crisis. While the situation on the ground was mostly calm and posed no threat to tourists, the negative publicity in the international media and on social media has had an impact on tourist arrivals. Adding to this, some countries also issued travel alerts on Sri Lanka after 26 October, which were maintained last week. In its travel advisory, the Canadian Foreign Ministry noted that on 26 October, the President of Sri Lanka moved to dismiss the Prime Minister, which had led to a period of political instability. “Demonstrations could occur. Exercise vigilance and avoid all demonstrations and large political gatherings. Monitor local media for the latest information,” Canada’s advisory stated. The British Foreign office said in a similar advisory that there had been political demonstrations in Colombo, which were likely to continue and may happen at short notice, and that British nationals must exercise vigilance and avoid all demonstrations or large political gatherings. The Australian Foreign Ministry stated that there was an increased likelihood of large protests and demonstrations in Sri Lanka due to political instability. “Avoid all demonstrations and large public gatherings, as they may turn violent. Monitor local media for updates. The level of our advice has not changed. Exercise normal safety precautions in Sri Lanka,” Australia said. Crisis takes toll on hotels Leading hotels in Colombo and outside the city said that, over the past few weeks, several bookings had been cancelled – mostly owing to fears generated from media reports. Vice President (India and Sri Lanka) and General Manager of Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo Timothy Wright said that travellers were becoming more concerned about the situation as the political issue had not been resolved. “In Colombo, we do see some disturbances and inconvenience, but generally our guests aren’t impacted greatly. But the press coverage has had some negative impact on our business. We are somewhat challenged in trying to give sound advice to those travellers that contact us. The safety and security of our guests is our priority. We want to give them a realistic picture of the situation,” he told The Sunday Morning. Wright said that some travellers who had booked a stay at the Shangri-La Hotel had decided not to take the risk, owing to the political crisis in the country and had switched destinations. “Luckily for Shangri-La, we have a number of hotels in the region, so we try to redirect some conferences booked for Sri Lanka to our other properties in the region,” he said. However, he noted that it was difficult to redirect a leisure traveller who wants to experience Sri Lanka to another country. Wright said that his office was in touch with their corporate office, which is very concerned about what is taking place in Colombo. “The longer this goes on, the more difficult it will be to manage from a business perspective,” he said. Wright said that while most hotels in Sri Lanka share his concerns, including resorts outside Colombo, city hotels are in their peak season and they are more concerned as some bookings have been cancelled while the pace of future bookings have slowed down considerably. The General Manager at Mövenpick Hotel, Colombo George Koumendakos stated that Mövenpick was also suffering as a result of the political issue. “The current political crisis has affected us as a city hotel. The publicity on the international media, particularly social media, has had an impact on us,” he told The Sunday Morning. Koumendakos said that since 29 October, Mövenpick Hotel, Colombo suffered some cancellations. The Hotel hoped that the crisis would be resolved quickly as Sri Lanka is a very beautiful country and was only recently listed as the top travel destination by Lonely Planet for 2019. Koumendakos said that even at his hotel, apart from the cancellations, the booking pace had slowed down. “Indirectly people are moving out of Sri Lanka, particularly for meetings and events. There are plenty of choices in other countries and that’s what we have seen happening. Hopefully things will settle fast because it is affecting tourism. It is also affecting business in Colombo,” he said. [caption id="attachment_13459" align="alignright" width="300"] Kingsbury Hotel General Manager Christine Chevalaz[/caption] The Kingsbury Hotel General Manager Christine Chevalaz said that even the hotel she managed had some cancellations and slowdowns in future bookings. She told The Sunday Morning that the political crisis occurred at a really bad time for the city hotels as they were going into their peak season. Chevalaz also noted that apart from room cancellations and slow bookings, spending at restaurants in the hotel had also seen a sharp decline from the time the political crisis broke out. The Government has meanwhile initiated steps to approach foreign governments, travel agencies, and tourists to assure them that Sri Lanka is safe for travel. The Sri Lanka Tourism ​Development Authority (SLTDA) Director General Upali Ratnayake told The Sunday Morning that social media was used heavily last week to reach out to tourists in order to encourage them to visit Sri Lanka. “The social media campaign is going viral,” he said. He also said that a Foreign Ministry statement on the situation in Sri Lanka was also being circulated using social media. “We feel social media is more effective than mainstream media, so we are using social media to get our message out,” he said. Sri Lanka Tourism set a target of three million tourist arrivals this year from its earlier target of 2.5 million arrivals before the sudden change of government late last month. The former Government also set a target of four million tourist arrivals for next year.