Sri Lanka Tourism will take around 6 months to fully recover from the coronavirus impact said President of Tourist Hotels Association (THASL) Sanath Ukwatte.
He said in the short term the industry would depend on domestic tourism and when the coronavirus is fully brought under control they would try to woo Asian tourists. “We will first look at India and China markets.”
“At present all local events such as, weddings and conferences have been postponed while tourist arrivals too have dropped.”
Due to this many sacrifices have to be made. “First, the top staff will undergo a 50% ‘pay cut’ while the lower grade staff will be paid in full.”
He said soon many hotels would be partially closed for about two to three months.
“The Government has promised a series of financial concessions and these would have to be implemented before the April festive season so that the benefit could be passed on to the staff.”
The Government is taking the right decision to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country and imposing long term curfew in ‘high risk’ areas is a welcome move to minimize the spread.
Hotels have also refunded booking fees or done ‘date changes’ and are charging discounted rates from tourists that are already staying in the hotels.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Tourism announced that around 17, 000 tourists are still in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Tourism is closely working with the Foreign Ministry and respective Embassies/High Commissions to facilitate any country to fly out their nationals who are on holiday or on work in Sri Lanka, back to their home country via charter flights, on request.
Although arrivals are suspended, all departures are supported and SriLankan Airlines operates departure flights daily to UK, Melbourne and Narita.