Tourism industry seeks more concessions
Three weeks after the Easter Sunday bombings, the tourism industry has no ray of hope even from the government as the relief package offered has left them confused and disappointed even as some hotels prepare to send workers on compulsory leave.
The moratorium on loans requested was to cover the entire tourism industry but the confusion arose since the Central Bank issued the statement on this detailing that it was to be granted on a case-by-case basis.
In addition, employee loans that were also raised during the meetings, with the authorities, to be granted a moratorium as the crisis affects them as per personal loans and leases, has also not been addressed at all by the government, the industry states.
The situation is very confusing because the Central Bank circular says the moratorium will be given on a case-by-case basis but “what we have” requested is for the entire industry (and all stakeholders) to be granted this concession, Hoteliers Association President Sanath Ukwatte said.
The employees are also not included in the circular “so we are disappointed,” he said adding that they would be appealing to the Cabinet Sub-committee appointed in this regard to address these matters.
If the package is not coming through as per request the staff will have to face severe hardships, he noted.
In this respect, most hotels have decided to send their staff employed on a casual and contractual basis on compulsory leave and also curtail hotel operations to a bare minimum. Hotels around the country employ about 200,000 staff and in total there are about 500,000 working directly and indirectly for the industry affecting nearly two million lives.
“We hope the government will come to our rescue,” Mr. Ukwatte said asserting that this problem had arisen as a result of a security lapse and that the current situation was beyond their control.
“Industry-wise we were concentrating on bringing people into the country and overnight we crashed to zero because of terrorism and the security issue,” he complained.
Hotels like The Kingsbury that came under attack will be coming up with certain attractive packages for the domestic and foreign markets.
The hotel’s Director Marketing Denesh Silva stated that “relief packages need to be coming in, in order for all of us to survive”.
Currently the biggest issue is the travel advisory, City Hotels President M. Shanthikumar said adding that the associations were meeting the respective embassies and have also requested the government to issue a joint statement from the President, Prime Minister and the security forces assuring that the security situation in the country is under control.
In addition, the industry has met with airlines to ensure they could initiate a promotion campaign similar to the one they did back in 2002 with all airlines, DMCs and hotels offering a buy one get one free package to bring back the tourists to Sri Lanka.