Record arrivals kick off good season for tourism
Sri Lanka has seen record numbers of tourists coming in to the country at a time when its key competitors are still imposing tight restrictions on travellers. But some industry persons believe numbers are not reflecting the true traveller.
Hotels Association (THASL) President M. Shanthikumar told the Business Times that the industry is now “getting back to normal” and that things are much better than what it was during the last two years.
He pointed out while the Sri Lankan diaspora are visiting friends and family, they were also patronising hotels that has also contributed to the gains the country has made.
However, some believe that the numbers are not reflective of the actual leisure traveller visiting the country.
Sources in the industry said there were large numbers of Sri Lankans visiting the country and that this is indicated in the arrival figures that they believe is quite misleading as the public and financial institutions now surmise that the industry is throbbing.
There were also complaints that some Russians have set up shop in the South of Sri Lanka and are now welcoming their own citizens and Ukrainians providing them tours and accommodation in locally rented out places. This is likely to cause unrest among locals as it could adversely impact on their own incomes, sources said.
Meanwhile it is also learnt that the increasing numbers of Indians, Chinese, Japanese and Koreans entering the country are mainly for jobs, quarantining or on business.
They believe that out of the 194, 000 travellers that visited the country more than 60 per cent were not on leisure travel.
However, Jetwing Symphony Hotels Chairman Hiran Cooray noted that while travellers may not always stay at hotels and use travel agents to tour the country, the travellers are coming in. Today he noted most tourists are booking independently, adding that Sri Lanka is right now doing much better than the previous year.
He noted that during the peak December month his group of hotels had occupancies that generated about 40 per cent foreign travellers while the rest of the 60 per cent were Sri Lankans.
Mt. Lavinia Hotel Chairman and THASL immediate past President Sanath Ukwatte said that Sri Lanka is attracting more numbers as the country has less restrictions compared to its competitors like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. “The numbers are interesting and we have to capitalise on this and the majority of the guests are quite pleased with the destination and we have to build up on this,” he said.
However, he noted that though tourism is on the road to recovery it will take time to get back to normalcy. Mr. Ukwatte was optimistic Sri Lanka could reach the earnings target of US$500 million for the financial year ending March 2022. The numbers he believes are real and hotels on the coast and the round trip in safari parks are having good occupancies. Most hoteliers said the numbers increased due to the relaxed travel restrictions that has kept Sri Lanka on the global tourism map.
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