After the wave of attacks that hit the country on Easter Sunday and claimed 253 lives, Sri Lanka is seeing bookings and tourists fleeing the country.
After the wave of attacks that hit the country on Easter Sunday and claimed 253 lives, Sri Lanka is seeing bookings and tourists fleeing the country. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said he expects a 30% drop in arrivals this year, a shortfall of around $ 1.5 billion.
The dust had not settled on hotels and churches in Sri Lanka struck by bloody attacks on Easter Sunday as cancellations were already following one another, tourists and tour operators alike giving in to panic.
Sanath Ukwatte, president of Mount Lavinia in Colombo, one of Sri Lanka’s oldest hotels, said he lost 30% of bookings just days after the bloodshed by suicide bombers in which 253 people died.
Many tourists rushed aboard the first planes available from Colombo after the massacre in which at least 40 foreigners were killed.
Warnings from several countries
The South Asian island fears for the future of the tourism industry, which had managed to recover after decades of civil war.
Prized for its idyllic beaches and lush green nature, Sri Lanka had a record year in 2018 with 2.33 million tourists. She hoped to generate $ 5 billion in revenue in 2019, up from 4.4 last year.
But the United States, Britain, Australia, India and Israel have all issued warnings to their nationals, asking them to avoid traveling to Sri Lanka. The Netherlands is organizing the evacuation of hundreds of Dutch tourists by special plane.
The European tour operator TUI said on Friday it had stopped taking reservations for Sri Lanka.
Miss to win
The situation could get even worse before it improves as the island was recently named the best destination for 2019 by the Lonely Planet guide.
Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said he expects a 30% drop in arrivals this year, a shortfall of around $ 1.5 billion.
Tourism accounts for around 5% of Sri Lankan GDP, with the UK, Indian and Chinese markets being the main markets on the island. According to official figures, attendance jumped 4.6% in the first quarter of 2019 over one year, to 740,600 visitors.
But since the carnage, armed guards have been deployed in Colombo hotels, cancellations are increasing and the Minister of Finance must develop a program to rescue establishments now threatened with shutdown.
Ruchir Desai, analyst at Asia Frontier Capital in Hong Kong, predicts a difficult year for Sri Lanka. “Given the scale of these attacks, there will be negative repercussions on the industry,” he told AFP. “She should recover,” he continued, however. “Obviously, that will depend on the measures taken by the government to improve stability . “
Mr Ukwatte, who also chairs the Sri Lanka Hotel Association, hopes the country can “recover” .
Bounce back from the attacks
The low season for Sri Lankan tourism is approaching and the hotelier hopes that confidence will return by October or November. “Then we can revive the industry with winter visitors from Europe.” The Minister of Finance stressed that the French, Belgian, Spanish and Tunisian tourism sectors had all managed to bounce back after being subjected to terrorist attacks .
Observers say it will all depend on how the authorities get the message across. Wade Campbell, Canada’s adventure tourism promoter, criticized the government’s communications strategy in the aftermath of the attacks, particularly a senior Ministry of Defense who had felt that Sri Lankan hotels should have organized their own security to avoid being hit. He has since resigned.
The danger is “a question of perceptions,” explained Mr. Campbell, who is now seeking to direct his reservations to rival destinations such as Nepal.
Donatella Papi and her husband Maurizio Fantappie, two Italian tourists, were in eastern Sri Lanka for a 25-day vacation at the time of the attacks.
“My husband wanted to leave after the attacks, he suggested that we go to Thailand. But I wasn’t too scared, I thought the situation was going to stabilize, ” says Ms. Papi.
“I believe Sri Lankan tourism is going to tumble, it saddens us a lot. This year is the anniversary of the end of the Civil War (2009) it should have been a celebration, ” she said. “We don’t regret having stayed but we are very sad and worried. For our safety and for Sri Lanka. “
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