Political tomfoolery dampens holiday travel
View(s):Holidaying in Sri Lanka this winter can get a bit chilly but plans are afoot by the travel industry to add cheer to their guests and leave any hostilities at the doorstep of politicians.
End of November and December that kicks off the winter season was projected to generate around 250,000 travellers but with the current situation a dip in the number of visitors is likely to steer the 2.3 million to 2.5 million targeted arrivals for 2018 towards just over two million visitors. Upto October tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka were at 1.8 million. There had been an 8 per cent increase in the growth of arrivals in 2017 compared to 2016.
Sporty travellers
English cricket fans continue to lap up on the luxury of a holiday in Sri Lanka while enjoying a good season in Galle even as the political atmosphere intensifies by the day.
“There aren’t any major incidents that will deprive them (tourists) from visiting the country,” Hoteliers Association President Sanath Ukwatte told the Business Times on Thursday.
He noted that the English cricket fans were in town enjoying their holiday in the country and remained optimistic of next month’s tourist arrivals that would be the start of the winter season.
Ever since October 26
It was noted that some corporate conferences and business have got postponed due to the current situation in the country. Since October 26 when President Maithripala Sirisena appointed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister a number of travel advisories were issued by key markets like the US, UK and Canada.
The UK, US and Canada have issued travel warnings to their nationals indicating that there could be demonstrations. Canada has stated noting that the Sri Lankan President’s moves to dismiss the Prime Minister “may lead to a period of political instability.”
In the leisure tourism sector the industry still expects a “busy season.” Mr. Ukwatte noted “we are optimistic as long as there are no restrictions on travel in the country.”
While the industry remains concerned they hope there could be a solution to this deadlock.
“We have faced terrorism and challenges before and even tsunamis – we have gone through the worst and we were optimistic then and we are optimistic now,” Mr. Ukwatte asserted.
The industry that has just returned from the World Travel Mart (WTM) in the UK, where they also launched the “So Sri Lanka” slogan, have been confronted by international tour operators and travel agents inquiring about the political crisis in the country.
In the city
City Hotels Association President M. Shanthikumar speaking with the Business Times said that there were a couple of reported cancellations of bookings in the Colombo city hotels due to the current situation in the country.
In fact the rates of some city hotels were dropping while others continued to retain the same rates.
The travel warnings, Mr. Shanthikumar explained had affected the bookings and right now hoteliers were adopting a “wait and see” stance pertaining to future bookings as the situation remains uncertain.
“At the moment there are no major cancellations so we believe things will be ok,” he said.
Enquiries and inquiries
Aitken Spence Managing Director Travels Nalin Jayasundera said that they were hoping that the current in-fighting within Parliament would not spill over onto the streets and wondered how long the current impasse would continue.
Tour operator inquiries on the current situation was a pressing concern to travel agents who continue to highlight that the situation was mainly a political one and did not have an impact on tourists and visits to any attractions.
Enquiries by international tour operators were mainly regarding the safety of travel to the country and whether tourist movement would be affected by the current crisis.
“We have not got large scale cancellations,” he said pointing out that when bookings slow down it remained uncertain as to whether travellers who would have opted to visit Sri Lanka were now looking to holiday elsewhere.
A significant number of cancellations were seen for a series of groups tipped to arrive in December, January, February and March for the Amaya Resorts.
“This sends a bad vibe for the resorts,” Amaya Leisure Marketing and Sales Director Denesh Silva speaking with the Business Times said adding that the cancellations were mainly from the Scandinavian market that were impacted due to the political situation in the country.
In addition, a number of cancellations were expected from the Indian market which is currently skeptical of visiting the country, he said.
However, the Jetwing Group Chairman Hiran Cooray remained optimistic asserting that there were no major cancellations and opined that early December is “anyway slow” with the peak expected just after or before Christmas.
Travel agents and online agents have noted that bookings were a bit slow but travellers still continue to want to come to Sri Lanka for the winter season from January to March particularly the European sector.
Shootings, charters, cruises
Meanwhile, a British film crew that arrived in the country on Wednesday was tipped to tour the country to identify locations for their shootings, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Acting Managing Director Dushantha Wickramasuriya said.
He also noted that there were a number of familiarisation tours conducted with journalists and bloggers around the country that clearly highlighted that the current situation has no impact on tourists holidaying in Sri Lanka.
Moreover, he pointed out that there were three charter flights that arrived in the country with a group from Poland and a number of other carriers also joining the skies namely Aeroflot, the UK and Edelweiss.
In addition three cruise ships are scheduled to call over at the Colombo Port the Sapphire Princess on November 23 from the UK, Mein Schiff vessel on November 26 from Dubai and Ms. Europa on November 28 from Mauritius.
A government delegation together with over 25 tour operators are currently attending the China International Travel Mart (CITM) in Shanghai where the industry would continue to highlight the safety of travellers to the country, it was noted.
Meanwhile, work at the SLTPB is currently going on as usual, he noted adding that they still expect the next three months to be adequate time to launch the global promotion campaign at the ITB fair in Berlin in March next year.