Hotels in crisis, care centres see surge in patients
View(s):Sri Lanka’s hotels are facing its worst crisis as they once again seek government support to pay the employee wages and in the midst of some others looking at closing down as they run empty.
Right now there are no bookings and since the country’s airport is closed, hotels are empty and some are contemplating closing, Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Sanath Ukwatte told the Business Times on Thursday.
He noted that a majority of the hotels are going to close since “we have no guests during this period,” but the Colombo hotels will remain open since they have delivery business.
“We have to stay home and bring the pandemic under control,” he asserted.
Hotels operating as care centres are now reaching maximum capacity as there has been a spike in the number of positive cases and now an increasing number of hotels are opening up to fight the battle against COVID-19, the THASL President pointed out.
Opening up as care centres has also helped to pay salaries of the hotel workers and this service by the industry is also assisting the authorities to control the situation by isolating anyone becoming positive, it was noted.
Mr. Ukwatte said that while hotels running as quarantine or care centres will continue their operations and remain open others might close due to lack of foreign and local tourists.
He explained that this has turned out to be the worst year. “We thought this year might be a good year but not so and after the airport opening we were looking forward but now it has come down to zero.”
Staff will be paid their salaries with some working on reduced pay as they have been operating for quite some time, he noted.
Meanwhile, under the current circumstances Mr. Ukwatte noted that they hope the Cabinet approval granted last year for the wages subsidised loan for a period of six months will become operational now.
“The industry needs the support from the government at this critical time to restore our industry and safeguard the jobs of our people because if we don’t do that then there is a danger of collapsing,” he said.
“We see that the traditional markets like UK, Germany are getting back to normalcy and they have got back to normalcy as they have got their people vaccinated and don’t let people leave the industry – we see if the population is vaccinated there will be a huge control,” Mr. Ukwatte added. He said that since the airport reopened the number of arrivals was building up which is why arrivals reached around 10, 000 tourists.
Some others are optimistic that the situation by the winter season will be able to bring in an adequate number of traffic to sustain the industry.
NKar Travels Managing Director and former President of Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) Nilmin Nanayakkara said that by September or October business is likely to turnaround since by then about 30-40 per cent of the population is likely to be vaccinated.
“While the concerning factor is the mutant that has spread within the community if Sri Lanka can be managed well by then, then we are through,” he said.
He expects traffic of about 30-40 per cent of the 2018 arrivals for the next winter season but how likely this could be achieved is yet to be seen. (SD)