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N’Eliya hotels perk up for Avurudu but hopes fade elsewhere
Afraid of the pandemic, the cash-strapped middle class seems set to spend the New Year at home rather than holidaying, and this together with a return to school the week after Avurudu is crushing hoteliers’ hopes of lifting room occupancy rates.
“It was in the news in mid-March that the government would restrict travel during the New Year season and that people are definitely not encouraged to travel,” a concerned hotelier who wished to remain anonymous said. This caused many people to decide against planning Avurudu holidays in hotels.
On March 17, the Head of the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO), General (ret.) Shavendra Silva said travel restrictions would be imposed, if necessary, during Avurudu, pointing out that COVID patients had increased after Christmas last year with people forgetting health guidelines during that festive season.
Hoteliers are also worried that the opening of most schools in the country right after the Avurudu week has discouraged families with schoolgoing children from taking long trips away from home.
Queen’s Hotel, one of the oldest city hotels in Kandy, said less than half its 90 rooms were booked during the New Year. “We could only sell 20-30 rooms during the weekend,” a hotel official said.
A somewhat brighter picture is emerging from “Little England” – Nuwara Eliya – the popular destination in the cool mountains, as the hotels prepare to receive local holiday-makers for the annual Spring Festival.
Hotel Director Gayani Boteju of Tudor Barn-Little England Cottages, said the five-star cottage with five rooms was fully booked for April, adding, “We have another property which is also fully booked for April”.
“Things are not good after April,” Ms Boteju lamented.
At the famous four-star Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya, front office manager Chinthana Bandara said in keeping with health guidelines only 75 per cent of rooms could be made available for tourists – and this capacity was fully booked from April 10-18.
“We are giving 50 per cent discounts for all room categories to lure domestic tourists,” he said.
Mr Bandara said only a few rooms had been sold in the first 10 days of April, with the hotel grateful for visits by a few Muslim tourists before Ramadan.
“After April 18, room occupancy really goes down,” he said. He feels people are scared to travel because of the pandemic.
Windsor Hotel, a family-owned three-star hotel in the heart of Nuwara Eliya town is also offering rooms at half-price this month but with limited success.
“New Year season is better as there are some bookings, but some of these have been cancelled at the last moment,” manager Johnny Daniel said.
Mr Daniel said out of the Windsor’s 48 rooms, only 75 per cent could be used to accommodate guests according to health rules, “which means we have the capacity to sell 36 rooms, but we have only 11 rooms sold by Friday”.
Tissamaharamaya, located close to the Yala National Park and the sacred city of Kataragama, is a popular destination for both local and foreign tourists, but at this time most of the town’s star-class hotels are being used as repatriate quarantine facilities while many small hotels and guest houses are still closed.
Sunil, a manager of a small tourist hotel in Ella, said the small hill country town is normally bustling with foreign tourists but is now in deep slumber with a very few hotels open to welcome local tourists.
“Our property is open only for the New Year week,” he said. Ella hotels have been closed for almost one year, he added.
Sri Lanka Hotel Association (THASL) President Sanath Ukwatte pointed out that tourist hotels rely on foreign tourists for 80 per cent of their business and that the average domestic tourism component is only 20 per cent in resort areas outside Colombo. “For this reason, survival of the industry solely on domestic tourism would be difficult,” he said.
Mr Ukawatte predicted that even with promotions, hotels would find it difficult to attract many domestic visitors as people are scared to travel.
“As a survival strategy,” he said, “some hotels are providing their services as quarantine centres and some are functioning as intermediatory care centres, looking after COVID-19 virus positive cases who do not require admission to hospital.”
| Nuwara Eliya blooms for season with restrictions in place | |
| Pix and Text by Shelton Hettiarachchi The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled authorities to cancel some crowd-gathering events in Nuwara Eliya, as they prepare to welcome visitors for the holiday season. Gregory Park, the regular venue for crowd-pulling sporting and entertainment events before the pandemic outbreak, will be without such events this season due to strict health guidelines, officials said. However, municipal officials said they had permitted events such as flower shows, cultural events, horse races, mountain climbing and indoor games. They said they would not allow mega musical shows or similar events where they would find it difficult to implement health guidelines.
Some officials said their rooms were almost fully booked for the season. The city authorities said visitors should strictly adhere to health guidelines.
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With many hotels and inns bringing down room rates, it is hoped a considerable crowd will visit Nuwara Eliya, also known as Little England, during the season which coincides with school holidays.