Sri Lanka’s tourism industry on Tuesday teamed up to highlight that the country is safe to travel to and that last week’s floods had not impacted the leisure sector. In the aftermath of the floods in the country there were adverse reports in the foreign media that had spelt doom and gloom about the situation [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka safe to travel, says Sri Lanka Tourism

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Sri Lanka’s tourism industry on Tuesday teamed up to highlight that the country is safe to travel to and that last week’s floods had not impacted the leisure sector.

In the aftermath of the floods in the country there were adverse reports in the foreign media that had spelt doom and gloom about the situation in Sri Lanka and this needed to be corrected, Tourism and Christian Affairs Minister John Amaratunga said at a media briefing in Colombo.

He noted that with the flood waters receding and the roads under repair the situation was improving and the hoteliers and travel agents have found that there was no impact of the disaster on the hotels or tourists.

The four state-run boards – dealing with promotion, development, hotel school and conventions – would contribute Rs.500,000 each for the people to help build their houses and provide other rations based on the requirements called for by the Government Agent of Kalutara.

Minister Amaratunga said he has been assigned to the Kalutara area to address the situation there and help flood victims according to a directive by President Maithripala Sirisena.

The Minister also noted that the Kalutara and Bentota hoteliers had teamed up to serve the flood victims with lunch packets over the course of the last weekend.

Tourist accommodation units like bungalows and home-stays were also said to have not been affected by the floods, he said.

Hoteliers Association President Sanath Ukwatte said that the situation concerning the weather pattern was improving and noted they were “deeply conscious” of their need to assist the people affected by the floods.

In fact he pointed out that they were collecting provisions to distribute among those affected adding that in terms of bookings there were “no major cancellations” and all hotels were running as normal.

With May and June being traditionally low occupancy months he pointed out that the industry was not affected by last week’s natural disaster.

The Sri Lanka Association Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) explained that the flood waters rising in Sri Lanka had left their foreign principals concerned regarding the adverse publicity of the safety of travel to the country.

However, the tour operators had found out from the various tourist sites and other tourist zones that neither hoteliers nor tourists were adversely impacted by the floods in Sri Lanka.

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