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Tourists hobbled by unprecedented economic calamity say never again
Sri Lanka attracted 230,000 tourists as at March 15, however, the daily power cuts and the diesel shortage has resulted in negative publicity overseas for an industry still trying to recover from the Easter attacks and the coronavirus pandemic.
Tourism is an important foreign exchange earner for Sri Lanka. But problems have been multiplying, and industry prospects are bleak.
Candlelight dinners have lost their appeal Pix by Eshan Fernando
“I don’t have a generator and there’s a big problem with the water. In my area there is nearly no water pressure.” said Manfred Schmidt, a German who travels to
Sri Lanka often to help young Sri Lankans study in Germany. Mr Schmidt said that a well he has is being used by neighbours who collect water in bottles for taking a shower.
“When I was in Negombo, they used a generator in the evenings. However, where I’m now, there isn’t one and I suffer with swollen joints in the heat due to my medication,” said a civil servant from England who prefers to remain anonymous. She is presently on a career break and is travelling around Asia. The power cuts have limited where she can travel to.
“The power cuts in the morning are tolerable, but the ones in the evening are not so. My four-year-old daughter goes to sleep at about 7pm and her sleep is disturbed,” emphasised Muhammad Saleem, an operations manager at a hotel in Seychelles.
Mr Saleem is from Pakistan and he is in Sri Lanka for medical treatment for his wife.
Meanwhile, many tourists have also taken to social media to complain about their experiences to note that they would not revisit Sri Lanka.
A YouTube travel blogger who goes by ‘Ken Abroad’, recently posted about thinking of leaving Sri Lanka soon.
Power costs are hobbling hotels, homestays and restaurants. There have been many cancellations.
Muhammad Saleem
“We cannot run for one year without a problem, and most of these are problems that could have been avoided,” said Suresh Weerasuriya, owner and managing director of Visakha 6, Colombo and Goldi Sands Hotel, Negombo.
He recorded 12 cancellations just for March at Visakha 6 (a bed and breakfast stay on Visakha Road, with six rooms).
According to Mr Weerasuriya, there is a trend of ‘budget travellers.’ These are travellers who seek low-cost accommodation. They mostly depend on homestays. But guest houses do not have generators.
“We have to be ashamed. Tourists are paying us and we are asking them to come here, but we can’t provide them with the basic necessities,” emphasised Mr Weerasuriya. The water supply is affected as the pressure pumps stop working, too.
Some establishments have generators, but there is no diesel to power them.
Mr Weerasuriya’s hotel in Negombo has two generators, which require 200 litres of diesel a day.
In addition, the servicing of generators adds to the operating cost.
For Mr Vishwa Nandasinghe, a partner of a guest house in Mount Lavinia providing seven rooms, his search for generators had been unsuccessful.
“Even if we find generators, we still have the problem of fuel.”
The guest house has also had about one to two cancellations per week. This homestay too, faces the water pressure problem.
Another problem faced by the industry is the cleaning and delivery of linen and laundry.
Mr Nandasinghe highlighted how these services are delayed, as the machines cannot function due to power outages.
“We have to inform our guests that they won’t have electricity and wi-fi, and there will be reduced water pressure.”
Vishwa Nandasinghe
A 33-year-old operations manager at a resort in Nuwara Eliya offering eight rooms, told the Sunday Times that out of the 240 room nights available for a month, 90 room nights had been booked by tourists, out of which 25 room nights had been cancelled owing to the present situation. “Everything is interconnected; and we haven’t been given any solutions.”
The standalone restaurants of the resort are sometimes closed due to the power cuts.
“This is a serious inconvenience for tourists. Sri Lanka has not experienced power cuts before of this magnitude,” said M Shanthikumar, President of The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL).
He is also concerned about the lack of fuel for generators. Hotels which switched to electric cookers due to the cooking gas shortage are now out of options.
He further added that it is saddening to see that authorities have not found a solution to exempt tourist hotels from power cuts. “This is killing tourism.”
Potential visitors are cancelling trips.
Mr Shanthikumar also highlighted that despite reassurances about SLTDA registered establishments being able to get fuel, because of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s new decision to not pump fuel into cans and barrels, it is hard to buy fuel for generators.
“Tourist transport vehicles can take the vehicle and get fuel, but how can we do that for our generators?’’ he wondered.
“We have received complaints from travel agents and other companies regarding the situation because of the adverse publicity we have received,” said Mr Darshana Cabraal, an executive committee member of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO). Presently, winter bookings for November 2022 are slowed due to the crisis. SLAITO has organised tours for tourists however, there are instances which have inconvenienced travellers.
Suresh Weerasuriya
“We have informed our drivers to contact the nearest fuel station in case petrol/diesel is needed so they can confirm whether fuel is available.”
A travel advisory was issued by Canada, mid-January, while the United Kingdom issued one, in early March.
Before the power cuts, shortages of gas, increase in the prices of vegetables and the restriction of imported items created a burden on the industry and are still continuing.
“Although tourists enjoy Sri Lankan food, they cannot eat it every day. How can they find any European food here because of import restrictions?” questioned Mr Weerasuriya.
Visakha 6 stopped serving breakfast, which included the traditional English breakfast and an Indian breakfast for vegetarians, due to high costs.
Mr Nandasinghe suggested that granting concessions to tourist establishments to build solar panels will aid in providing uninterrupted electricity to tourists, while also creating an opportunity to contribute additional electricity to the national grid. He also recommended that authorities create an app that will allow tourists to check power cut schedules.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) and SLAITO will be hosting 400 Indian travel agents from April 19 to 22. In addition, the ‘Raid Amazones’, a female-only adventure challenge with 600 athletes is presently being hosted in Sri Lanka, starting off in Sigiriya and is expected to attract many tourists. The event began on March 16 and will continue till April 6.
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