French advisory crunches Lankan tourism

By Lakwimashi Perera

A tough French Foreign Ministry travel advisory urging its nationals against non-urgent travel to Sri Lanka saw several cancellations on Friday, spelling doom for an industry desperately trying to revive interest. Thursday’s advisory was much stronger than usual compared to others which only warn against travel to the north and east of the country, officials said.

Tourism Ministry Secretary Dr. P. Ramanujan told The Sunday Times that they had seen a large number of cancellations as a result of this advisory. “France has an insurance policy where, if a tourist is caught up in any terrorist situation in a country for which a travel advisory had been issued, the tour operator has to bear the compensation”, he said. Hence tour operators were reluctant to promote travel to Sri Lanka he explained.

Dr. Ramanujan said Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike had met the French Tourism Minister to discuss measures to tone down the advisory but had been informed that the relevant authority was the French Foreign Ministry. “The French and Sri Lankan Ambassadors are working to get the advisory toned down,” he said.

When asked if there were any chances of other countries also issuing strong travel advisories, Dr. Ramanujan said it was very unlikely. Speaking of the impact this would have on the local tourist season he said, “Hotels, especially the small and medium establishments are worried.”

“It’s a big blow,” said Sri Lanka Tourist Hoteliers Association President Hiran Cooray. “France, Holland, Germany and Italy have all issued travel advisories but thankfully the Germans are still coming. But the French arrivals have reduced to a trickle,” Cooray added.

SriLankan Airlines Corporate Communications head Chandana de Silva said, “It will have a huge impact on the tourism industry.”
“If any other country like Britain puts a travel advisory like this it is going to be difficult for the tourism industry,” he said. According to Tourism Ministry officials, French tourists make up approximately 5% of the tourists arrivals in country.