Financial Times

Conflicting claims over tourist arrivals
By Dinushika Dissanayake
While the Ministry of Tourism has said that the number of foreign visitors to the island is on the rebound following the sudden downturn triggered by the tsunami, tour operators maintain that arrivals are still significantly lower.

Tourism industry officials said that the Tourist Board calculates figures which do not reflect the true state of affairs in the industry. The board has recorded a 31 percent year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals for March.

However, according to averages calculated by tour operators, the number of tourist arrivals for the month of March has dropped by approximately 50 percent in comparison to last year's figures.

"When the Tourist Board releases such figures both government and the industry are given the wrong indications as to the real state of affairs," said the source.

Another official from a leading tour operator, who declined to be named, confirmed this allegation and further said that the quoting of misleading figures has been going on for a year despite appeals by the industry.

The official told The Sunday Times FT that the influx of tourists in March was due to huge discounts given by airlines to Indians where a large number of Indian traders arrived in Sri Lanka, staying for a maximum of two to three days and returning.

He said that the figures calculated by the Tourist Board were therefore greatly misleading to all stakeholders. The source further said that the genuine tourists that are arriving are mainly occupying hotels up country. "The majority of tourists are heading up country," he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism Dr. Prathap Ramunujam told The Sunday Times FT that according to their figures there was an increase in tourist arrivals in March in comparison to last year's figures.

"There was a 24 percent drop in January and a 15 percent drop in February, but figures have now picked up," he said. He conceded however that some adjustments need to be made since businessmen who declare themselves as tourists are also included in the figure. "We have to discriminate carefully between genuine tourists and others," he said.

He also conceded that their figures may include aid workers and traders saying, "Normally we include all foreigners in our figures." However, he did not agree with the figures calculated by the industry. "The adjustment will show only a marginal decrease from last year's figures," he said, adding "a drop of 50 percent is too much."

Dr. Ramunujam said that though they have counted foreign aid workers and businessmen as tourists, the occupancy level in hotels would not be affected as foreigners, whether tourists or not, would continue to occupy the hotels. "Any guest coming into a hotel is a tourist," he said.

He said that occupancy levels had also increased in March. "Occupancy levels had dropped in January to 20 percent but is currently at 50 percent," he said.

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