Resilient industry showcases at Sancharaka Udawa
The Sancharaka Udawa travel fair this year was a scene of a resilient industry wanting to fight hard times burdened with a financial crisis, working together with the government that has even worked out a strategy to finance the cost of stalls (50-50) to support a destination that is regaining favour from foreign travellers.
Sri Lanka is regaining its allure from around the world particularly with Indian and European visitors continuing to visit, thereby bringing down the decline in arrivals from 70 per cent in May to around 50 per cent in June, according to the Tourism Authority officials.
With good response from India, the authorities are holding the first promotion campaign there which the Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga noted was meant to reach out to the public and spread the word that Sri Lanka is ready for business.
In this respect, the Minister together with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Chairman Kishu Gomes will be heading to India to carry out briefings to the media and industry officials of the current status of travel to Sri Lanka.
“Today’s inauguration heralds the revival and restoration of Sri Lanka’s tourism,” the minister stated insisting that travel to Sri Lanka is safe as it is being guaranteed by local security officials. This statement comes just a day after India once again announced that there is a threat of ISIS attack on the subcontinent and the island nation.
Sri Lanka bagged about US$4.5 billion in earnings last year from tourism but expectations of US$5 billion will be shot down as employees of the sector numbering 600 direct and 2000 indirect have been affected since the Easter Sunday bombings.
The minister also noted government measures taken for security in hotels and around the country in addition to pointing out that the state banks have been quick to provide financial relief based on the government initiatives in this regard. But he noted that the private sector banks had been acting “overly cautious.”
This was echoed by industry persons like Airwing Tours Chairman and CEO Meryn Fernandopulle who told the Business Times that even after a lapse of two months “whatever the moratorium the DMCs have not got any.”
The proposed working capital relief measures were extremely difficult to obtain and hard to be repaid in two years as most banks were not in favour of giving the full amount at once but would provide it in installments. However, repayments need to be made for the full amount and interest only accrued from the installment amount, which DMCs believe is unfair especially since most were without any collateral since they had already obtained loans previously.
Similar concerns were expressed by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises of Tourism (ASMET) President Justin Karandhawela who said that most of their members had no more collateral to produce to obtain more loans and were on the other hand mortgaging their personal assets including jewellery.
In fact he pointed out that similar to the 1 per cent contribution made by the industry to the Tourism Development levy (TDL) they also need to create a fund that could be used in times of crisis by the industry. Mr. Karandhawala noted that even now he and his 160 members continue to make their payment to the TDL. Most are expecting visitors in July onwards and as such they would not shut down yet.
Laugfs Leisure Head of Sales and Marketing Musthaq Ahamed said that currently they were receiving about two to three groups per week but the number of rooms occupied has dropped from earlier 15 rooms to 5 rooms now.
Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) President Harith Perera said that they were planning to play host to their first ever travel mart by inviting 200 to 300 travel agents who have not featured Sri Lanka in their home countries.
It is learnt that the adverse travel advisories had resulted in travel agents not being brought down for the Sancharaka Udawa travel fair, a missed opportunity for an early revival as the SLTPB had obtained funding amounting to Rs. 75 million already for the visit.
Industry sources, said that SLAITO had dropped the idea having already set up a committee to undertake the task of bringing them down to the country in time for the travel fair.
Some of the hotels present told the Business Times about the losses with about 2000 room night cancellations at the Amagi hotels in the aftermath of the bombings, its Front Office Manager Geetanjali Balashanmugam said.