Holidaying here to get pricey next week
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is not just facing hard times but the next few days will showcase this even better as hoteliers take cover behind minimum room rates to increase charges and tour operators slapping them with legal action once they do so.
Sri Lanka has not been having anyone tell them how much to charge the traveller for their stay but from August 1 the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) will be imposing minimum room rates as part of a consensus reached by hoteliers to increase the rates across all hotels.
Tour Operators however, believe this will hurt the industry that is currently just trying to come out of its own crisis and a homegrown economic crisis. And in order to set things right they will resort to legal action to ensure they can fight out this issue again.
Once the minimum room rates come into force, the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) past President Mahen Kariyawasam said that it would increase the rates over 100 per cent.
As a result of this action by the hoteliers, he noted the growing MICE market will collapse clearly causing a drop in arrivals.
Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) President Jyoti Mayal also pointed out that increasing the charges will only hurt the travel trade.
She explained that a similar stance was adopted by the Indian hoteliers as they were coming out of the COVID, which did not work out.
Moreover, last Tuesday Tourism Minister Harin Fernando convened a meeting between the SLAITO and the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) requesting both parties arrive at a compromise. However, this did not materialise, it was noted.
In the meantime, THASL has also requested tour operators effective July 15 to comply with using the Spot Rate as the accepted exchange rate as the conversion rate for DMC bookings.
But SLAITO notes that with the Spot Rate always being higher than the buying rate and with a majority of the SMEs operating without a foreign currency account the conversion by banks in the LKR accounts happen automatically at a rate of the bank’s choice which could be even below the said bank’s buying rate for the day.
As a result SLAITO has requested THASL to re-consider their decision.
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