No Chinese tourists, no promos
View(s):Sri Lanka travel agencies and tour operators are facing a crisis as the numbers from China have dwindled to nearly zero.
Industry sources said currently there are no Chinese travellers visiting Sri Lanka clearly impacting on the tourism industry. The Chinese government has also issued a clampdown on travel agencies there to drop all travel overseas.
Numbers released by agencies indicated that tourist arrivals from February 1-24 this year are 176, 102 which is a drop of 18.48 per cent compared to the same period last year that recorded arrivals at 216, 028.
Chinese tourists have also dropped significantly with arrivals reported for this same period at 1,728 compared to 24, 033 last year, a drop of 92.81 per cent.
In the meantime, while the industry is reeling from the effects of a significant drop in visitors, authorities are also less determined to carry out any promotional campaigns.
In fact a board approved tourism promotion campaign of Rs.100 million each in selected cities has been stalled. This campaign does not require Cabinet approval and has already received board approval.
In other developments a circular has also been issued to departments to ensure that all digital marketing campaigns need to be channelled through the ICTA for IT related work.
(SD)