SLTDA, tour guides add to DMCs woes
Cash-strapped Destination Management Companies (DMCs) following a double whammy is now fighting hard to reach agreement with tour guides on any pay increase as only few tourists seem to trickle into the country after opening up on January 21.
The Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) has been in discussion with tour operators from time to time since last year and this month as well but the latter have indicated their inability to increase rates paid to them since tour packages need to be sold at competitive rates to attract the few that arrive in the country.
Sri Lanka opened up for international visitors from January 21 but was unable to attract large numbers due to the pandemic causing lockdowns in a number of key markets and the stiff restrictions in place that have caused a surge in the prices of tour packages.
Most DMCs are facing a tough time as some were forced to close shop, move out of office space, initiate pay-cuts to staff, lay off workers and running on moratoriums for loans obtained since the Easter attacks in 2019 and subsequently during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Companies are unable to increase the rates which is said to have been sparked off by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Chairperson Kimarli Fernando who had vouched her support towards an increase for the tour guides upon their request, SLAITO stated.
However, a board paper submitted in January last year had been turned down as a result of which the DMCs were requested to go in for discussions with the tour guides on the matter.
Pending a possible collapse of the industry and just overcoming the Easter attacks the DMCs were unable to agree to any increase in rates at the time and had agreed to do so once the industry improved.
SLAITO has agreed to a meeting on the issue in December and January since the Chairperson had insisted in a letter on January 22 that they go ahead for an increase due to the fact that the tour operators’ payment of Rs.2500 per day was not fair in treating the tour guides who were earning “less than a Mason or Plumber” and that the “current daily rate in comparison to other countries too is significantly lower”.
In response SLAITO in a letter on January 27 called this “unreasonable” and highlighted that the DMCs too are suffering with ‘zero’ business. “There is no visibility of the business even though the government has given hope to the tourism stakeholders by opening the borders of the country for tourism,” SLAITO stated in their letter to the Chairperson.