Travel agents literally “work from home”
Sri Lanka remains firm in its stance in not allowing tourists but its repercussions continue to hurtle the tourism industry to a further abyss.
As reserves of travel companies continue to go down they are increasingly looking at further downsizing their organisations.
Layoffs depend on reserves of each company, Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka (TAASL) President Trevor Rajaratnam told the Business Times on Monday. He noted that however, this would be different depending on each company’s ability to respond to the current situation.
At least 90 per cent of the outbound travel industry companies are managed by sole proprietors, he said. These travel firms engage in the business of taking Sri Lankans on tours overseas.
As a result most companies are finding it difficult to survive and in this scenario the organisations are now moving out of their rented spaces and operating from homes, even the proprietors themselves.
“Outbound travel agents area is really hurting and some have moved out of office space since they cannot continue to pay rent and a lot of the staff continues to work from home,” Mr. Rajaratnam explained.
He pointed out that the crisis due to the COVID-19 outbreak has had a “huge impact on outbound agents – a lot of families and people are unable to bring food to the table.”