Rates go wild at SL wildlife parks
The Wildlife Department has nearly doubled the rates of entrance fees to national wildlife parks as a result of which the tourism industry has been severely hit owing to the directive being issued without prior notice.
Previous rates per person Rs.9,688 has been increased to Rs.14,920 resulting in an increase of Rs.5,232. This has caused a significant loss to the tour operators as they have already entered into contracts well in advance.
Sri Lanka Tourism One Voice Spokesman and former Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) President Mahen Kariyawasam said that their contracts with foreign principals are signed 6-12 months ahead and they should receive a lead time.
In this respect he pointed out that the parks continue to lack basic sanitary facilities and are burdened with over visitation in addition to a lack of trackers. These are some of the areas the department needs to be concentrating on, he highlighted.
Inspite of these drawbacks the department has increased the entrance fees “without any indication to the tourism stakeholders at a time when we are struggling to promote and bring more tourists to the country”, he said.
Sri Lanka received 649.2 per cent increase in August tourist arrivals having received 37,760 tourists compared to same period last year. So far there have been 496,430 arrivals until the end of August.
Tourist arrivals dropped this year following the Sri Lankan economic crisis and other related issues like the shortage of fuel and food. Now that these issues are returning to normalcy and travel advisories against Sri Lanka are being lifted the tourism industry believes they expect tourist arrivals to resume.
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