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Tourism reeling from global virus pandemic
The hospitality industry is bracing for a temporary shutdown. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
With about 500,000 directly and indirectly working in over 2,500 hotels, restaurants, holiday homes and villas, the hospitality industry is bracing for a temporary shutdown as it experiences the worst hit from the new coronavirus global pandemic, senior hoteliers say.
An alarming rise in the number of coronavirus patients among those who had arrived from Italy led to the government halting all passenger arrivals from all countries at Bandaranaike International Airport until March 25, allowing only cargo, departures and transit. Jaffna International Airport was also shut down for two weeks.
“Our industry is based on interaction among people. Our business cannot function from home. Most hotels have requested staff to stay at home mainly considering their own safety,’’ said Sanath Ukwatte, president of the Hotels Association of Sri Lanka.
According to Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), there are 24 five star hotels, 25 four star hotels, 24 three star hotels, 39 two star hotels and 38 one star hotels. Star class hotels have a total of 14,229 rooms. The country also has 235 unclassified tourist hotels (not star hotels), 34 boutique hotels, 44 boutique villas, 1,012 guest houses, 443 bungalows and 520 home stay units.
Mr. Ukwatte said industry has continued to expand despite number of shocks over the years whether it’s terrorism, tsunami, floods, dengue.
Now to the coronavirus virus pandemic, the industry is seeking assistance from the government, especially to protect jobs.
“We are a highly capital and labour intensive industry,” he added.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority said discussions are ongoing with the government on providing financial support.
“We have asked the government to grant the same moratorium to all our employees’ loans and leases too,” he said.
The government also announced a one month extension of all types of visas for visitors.
“It’s our priority and our responsibility to look after the tourists who are here. Out of the [coronavirus] cases so far there are only four tourists who have been identified with coronavirus. Not every tourist is a patient or a carrier,” he said adding that the tourists will play a major role in encouraging others to visit.
“This temporary lull is a good time to put our house in order and plan our global marketing campaign and have it ready to launch at the first opportune moment. Like us, other attractive destinations in the world too will be doing the same and we need to take cognition of that and plan something different, so we stand out,” Mr. Ukwatte said adding that meanwhile, hotels and shopping malls need to have special attractions to draw locals.
With a membership of 35 hotels, the City Hotels Association, said occupancy in hotels is about 7%.
“This is the worst low occupancy rate recorded and presently only operational staff are working, others have been given compulsory paid leave,” said M. Shanthikumar, president of the association.
Former president of the Hotels Association, Srilal Miththapala, said it is important to keep the staff morale high.
“This is the first time in the history of our hospitality industry we have faced zero occupancy in hotels. This is a crisis of great magnitude. While permanent and contract employees are retained, casual employees are requested to take leave as some hotels cannot bear the additional cost with less or no income.
“Even if the employees are sent away, it is important to call them to the hotel, provide lunch, create a hotel employee group via social media, make sure that once things are better they can always join. This is to avoid any reluctance to join in the process of recovery.’’
There are about 10,000 foreign tourists who are gradually leaving the country and there are more cancellations by local and foreign tourists making the upcoming national New Year holidays a gloomy one for the industry, he said.
