Costs more to travel to SL, says SLAITO
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is finding it hard to attract tourists due to the strict health guidelines and added to this is the concern among tour operators of the need to have a high priced PCR test.
The US$40 PCR test is costing Rs.8000 whereas the real cost at a private hospital is about Rs.6500 and this payment needs to be made to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).
Questions have been raised by the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) that has insisted that despite the Tourism Development Minister Prasanna Ranatunga agreeing to their requests to reduce the payment and the method of payment, the rules still continue to be in place.
It was pointed out that the SLTDA has established a bank account to collect these monies that have caused much issues at the board level when it came up for objection insisting that this was not correct.
However, the board approval with the majority of government officers in place has given consent and as a result the SLTDA has already established this account for this purpose.
It is interesting to note that the SLTDA while it is not a government body in the business of cash collections is now engaged in this act as well.
Further the tour operators are compelled to make the payments in dollar denominations, the SLAITO sources pointed out.
In this respect, the tour operators’ body explained that with the tight health protocols Sri Lanka is fighting hard to compete on the global platform in a bid to market the destination. Moreover, it was noted that following the initial charter operations carried out to be bring in travellers from Kazakhstan and Ukraine there have not been anymore since Sri Lanka has not been supportive of these charter operations, the sources said.
Further the Eastern European charters have become a concern since they are not interested in visiting Sri Lanka as there are no subsidised rates offered to generate more traffic and the stringent health protocols have become a concern as well. It is learnt that Russia’s Aeroflot that was supposed to recommence operations has been delayed as agents have cited the strict health protocols as being too tough for them.