Pre-election travel advisories unlikely to impact on tourist arrivals
View(s):Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is unfazed by some countries alerting their citizens visiting the country to be ‘cautious’ of potential election violence during the January 8 presidential polls campaign.
Industry officials said large-scale election violence was unlikely and the traditionally peak season was looking good. “Bookings are great (for December) and I don’t expect any election violence that would deter arrivals,” one official said, adding: “These are routine advisories issued ahead of any election”.
Rumy Jauffer, Managing Director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, said that arrivals would reach the targetted 1.5 million this year with China closing in on the UK’s position as the second largest source market. “Chinese arrivals are showing triple digit growth for the past few months,” he said.
According to latest data for January-November 2014, Indian arrivals rose by 16.3 per cent to 216.581 arrivals when compared with the 11-month figures in 2013 while UK arrivals rose by 4.9 per cent to 128,172. Chinese arrivals totalled 117,766, up by 137.6 per cent from 2013 figures.
This week, the UK, Australia and Canada updated travel advisories, cautioning their citizens on the poll and possible violence. “Political rallies and election campaigns in Sri Lanka have occasionally turned violent. Travellers should avoid any political gatherings or rallies,” the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in its advisory. Separately many Sri Lankan expatriates from these countries also visit their relatives and friends during December.
India (Sri Lanka’s biggest source market) and China doesn’t issue travel advisories like their western counterparts.