Southern unrest shatters middle east tourist confidence

The recent unfortunate incidents that erupted in Aluthgama and Beruwala areas will have an adverse impact on the country’s tourism sector in the backdrop of Middle East being the fourth largest inbound tourist market for Sri Lanka, according to tourism industry stakeholders.

“We are already feeling the impact. During the last few days, there had been a number of cancellations by Middle Eastern tourists and new bookings have dried up,” an official of a leading travel sector operator told Mirror Business on grounds anonymity.

According to immediate past President of Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, Anura Lokuhetty, a large number of Middle Eastern tourists generally go on holidays during the period May-October.

“During May-October, you don’t see many European tourists. But because of the Eid holidays and the extreme heat in their countries, many Middle Eastern tourists come to Sri Lanka. In fact, the industry more or less depends on Middle Eastern tourists this time of the year. So, the timing of these incidents is very bad,” Lokuhetty stated.

According to Sri Lanka Tourism statistics, 132, 169 tourists from Middle East region visited Sri Lanka in 2012 and the number increased to 183, 097 in 2013. For the first five months of this year, 28, 708 Middle Eastern tourists have visited t he country, a 19.6 percent increase year on-year.

Meanwhile, leading Middle-East based media institutions such as Al Jazeera and t he Saudi Gazette provided extensive media coverage to the incidents that took place in Aluthgama and Beruwela during the early part of this week.

“Generally during this time of the year, we get around 20 to 25 inquiries and bookings per month. But after these unfortunate incidents, the number has gone down to just one or two,” another leading tourism sector operator said.

According to him, the spending capacity of Middle Eastern tourists are much higher than the Europeans who have been visiting Sri Lanka during the last few years. The current THASL President Jayantissa Kehelepannala told Mirror Business that they are constantly in touch with Sri Lanka Tourism to minimize any impact coming out from the incidents in Aluthgama and Beruwela.

“At the moment I don’t see there’s much of an impact. But unfortunately I won’t be able to say the same if this continues,” he noted.
www.dailymirror.lk

Australia also has issued a new travel advisory against SL - "to exercise a high degree of caution in Sri Lankan at this time because of the unrest situation in some part of the country."
link

As well as the UK -
"There have been violent disturbances in Aluthgama (near Bentota) and Beruwala (about 60km south of Colombo) which have resulted in a number of reported deaths and many injuries, as well as damage to buildings and local businesses. The military has been deployed to the area. The curfew was lifted on 18 June. The police have said it could be reinstated should the situation deteriorate. The areas affected by disturbances are near to tourist resorts on the coast. If you’re travelling to these towns or to nearby areas you should take care and avoid demonstrations. There have been isolated incidents and disturbances elsewhere around the country."
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/sri-lanka

I also have second hand evidence of cancellation of bookings in hotels in Benthota.