SRI LANKA: Tourist Arrivals In Sri Lanka Drop 50% As A Result Of Easter Bombings, Holiday Cancellations Flooding In

Tourist arrivals in Colombo will fall by 50 per cent over the next two months following the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people, Sri Lanka's Tourism Bureau Chairman Kishu Gomes said on Monday.

Tourist arrivals in areas outside Colombo will also go down by about 30 per cent following the bombings, he said at a travel conference in Dubai.

SriLankan Airlines' chief executive Vipula Gunatilleka said at the conference that the carrier had a 10 per cent increase in cancellations last week and expects that number to go up.

Sri Lanka faces a likely collapse in tourism following Easter Sunday bomb attacks on churches and hotels, which would deal a severe blow to the island's economy and financial markets, and potentially force it to seek further IMF assistance.

Gomes said the tourism bureau was chasing a target of 2.5 million visitors in 2019.

We will probably reach about 2 million, Gomes said. We are looking at providing some concessions to the industry for them to be able to maintain their viability for the next few months.

Gomes said confidence could return if the military is able to give assurances on security.

If the military can come out over the next few days and make a strong statement with respect to security that's when we will obviously offer a bit of confidence and try and work against that anticipation.

The cancellations started before the dust had settled on the hotels and churches hit by suicide bombers in Sri Lanka as tourists and operators pressed the panic button.

Sanath Ukwatte, chairman of the colonial-era Mount Lavinia hotel in Colombo, said he lost about 30 per cent of his bookings within days of the Easter Sunday attacks that killed 253 people.

Many holidaymakers got the first plane out of Colombo after the blasts, at least 40 foreigners were among the dead raising fears for a tourism industry that had managed to move on from the shadows of a decades of a long civil war.

The United States, Britain, Australia, India and Israel have all warned their nationals against visiting, while the Netherlands is organising a special flight to evacuate hundreds of Dutch tourists.

On Friday, European travel giant TUI announced it had stopped taking bookings for the South Asian country.

The crisis could get worse before it gets better for the island nation, whose palm fringed beaches and mountain tea plantations were recently named the best place to visit in 2019 by the Lonely Planet guide.

Sri Lanka's Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera had hoped tourism would earn a record US$5.0 billion this year, up from US$4.4 billion in 2018. He thinks the attacks could now see the country lose up to one third of that.

Tourism accounts for about five percent of the economy, with Britain, India and China the main markets. Official figures show tourist arrivals in the first quarter of this year jumped 4.6 per cent to 740,600 from 2018.

But with armed guards now a fixture in some Colombo hotels and cancellations flooding in after the carnage unleashed by coordinated suicide attacks, Samaraweera must work out a rescue plan for establishments now facing ruin.

We expect a 30 per cent drop in arrivals and that means a loss of about US$1.5 billion in foreign exchange, he said on Friday.

Ruchir Desai, a senior investment analyst with Asia Frontier Capital in Hong Kong, said the next year will be a tough one for Sri Lanka.

Given the scale of the attack I still think you would see a negative impact on the industry, Desai said.

It should recover, he added, obviously it depends on the steps the government takes to improve stability.

Ukwatte, who is also president of the Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, hopes Sri Lanka can bounce back.

Sri Lanka's tourism is heading into its low season, and Ukwatte believes if confidence can be restored by October or November, then we will be able to revive the industry with European winter travellers.

Finance Minister Samaraweera highlighted how other countries hit by Islamic State inspired attacks rebuilt their image and convinced tourists to come back.

Typically, countries that suffer isolated IS style attacks see tourism recovering within one to two years, as long as root causes are addressed and security measures taken are well communicated, the minister said.

He pointed to tourist industries in Belgium, France, Spain and Tunisia as countries which had all managed to bounce back after suffering indiscriminate terror attacks.

Much will depend on how the government gets its message across, observers said.

Canadian adventure tourism promoter Wade Campbell criticised the government's communications after the attacks, particularly a top defence ministry official who has since resigned, who said Sri Lankan hotels should have arranged their own security to avoid being hit.

Danger is a perception thing, said Campbell, who is now looking at redirecting bookings to rival destinations like Nepal.

Italians Donatella Papi and her husband Maurizio Fantappie were on a 25-day holiday in eastern Sri Lanka when the bombers struck.

My husband wanted to leave after the bombings, he suggested going to Thailand. But I wasn't too scared then, I thought it would settle down, said Papi.

I think Sri Lanka tourism will fall we are very sad about it. This year is the anniversary of the end of the war it was supposed to be a celebration, she said.

We have no regrets about staying on but we are very sad and worried for our safety and for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has assured hoteliers that the government will give them maximum financial relief to revive the lucrative tourism industry hit by the country’s worst terror attack on Easter Sunday that killed 253 people, including 40 foreigners.

Tourism accounts for about five per cent of Sri Lanka’s economy, with India, Britain and China being the main markets.

India is the largest source market for Sri Lanka, which received 2.3 million tourists from around the world in 2018.

Around 450,000 Indian tourists visited Sri Lanka last year and the island nation was expecting the total Indian tourist arrivals to cross one million in 2019.

President Sirisena acknowledged during his meeting on Monday with the country’s hoteliers that the tourism and hotel industries were worst hit after the string of powerful blasts ripped through three churches and as many luxury hotels on Easter Sunday, killing 253 people and injuring more than 500 others.

The bombs tore through three five-star hotels in Colombo: the Cinnamon Grand, the Shangri La and the Kingsbury. Forty foreigners, including 11 Indian nationals, died in the attacks.

Sirisena requested Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy to provide maximum financial relief immediately to the hoteliers.

Hotels Association President Sanath Ukwatte said hoteliers had invested large sums of money in the development of the hotels and requested the government to provide a moratorium or waiver on the capital and interest for a period of at least two years.

During the meeting, the hoteliers also asked the government to hire the services of a professional public relations and communications unit to send out one message to the world.

President Sirisena agreed to appoint a Cabinet sub-committee to look into the requirements of the hoteliers, the report said.

The meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ministers, ministry officials and members of the industry.

The Easter Sunday blasts were the first time that tourists were specifically targeted.

Following the bombings, the US, Britain, Australia, India and Israel warned their nationals against visiting Sri Lanka.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera recently told reporters that tourism will be the worst affected.

We expect a 30 per cent drop in arrivals and that means a loss of about $1.5 billion in foreign exchange, Mr. Samaraweera said, adding that the country could take up to two years to fully recover from the deadly bombings which shattered a decade of peace in the country.

Mount Lavinia Hotel south of the capital, a popular site for the tourists, has said there have been a large number of cancellations.

Galle Face Hotel top official Chandra Mohotti also said there will be huge cancellations.

In his first reaction to Sunday’s blasts, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said tourism industry will be hit by the blasts.

There will be a downward trend, Tourism will get affected. There may be fund outflows, Mr. Wickremesinghe said.

The industry officials said the rebound from the attacks would depend on the security measures to be adopted.

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry faced a difficult time until a decade ago due to the three-decade civil war with the LTTE which claimed at least 100,000 lives.

However, in the recent years Sri Lanka has emerged as a top tourist destination in Asia.


Tourism Observer

SRI LANKA: US$4 Billion Tourism Industry Threatened, Though Government Says Situation Under Control

The department of Sri Lankan tourism issued a statement on Thursday, where it said that the situation in Kandy is fast improving and no violent incidents have been reported in the last 18 hours.

On Thursday, Sri Lankan Police temporarily lifted the curfew in Kandy district.

Meanwhile, Ranjith Madduma Bandara was sworn in as the in-charge of police.

Just after Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday replaced Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the law and order minister amidst fresh violence.

However, there were reports of violent clashes between Buddhist mobs and Muslims in Sri Lanka for the third day in a row early on Thursday.

Armed mobs rampaged through towns and villages of central Sri Lanka, burning Muslim-owned houses and businesses, and leaving victims barricaded inside mosques.

The clashes started after mobs burnt 11 Muslim owned properties in Kandy, following reports that a Buddhist man had been killed by a group of Muslims.

Buddhist mobs swept through Muslim neighbourhoods in Sri Lanka's central hills, destroying stores and restaurants despite a curfew, a state of emergency and a heavy deployment of security forces, residents said on Thursday.

About 50 people broke into a Mohamed Ramzeen's small restaurant in the town of Pilimathalawa on Wednesday night while the curfew was in effect, destroying nearly everything they found, he said.

The security in town is inadequate, Ramzeen said. We fear for our lives.

Others in the area around Kandy, the main hill town, described similar attacks since the violence began early this week.

The streets of most towns were all but empty Thursday except for police and soldiers.

In suburban Pallekele, four houses were burned by mobs using petrol bombs during the curfew Wednesday night.

Mohamed Nazar said only he and his 64-year-old father remained in their house after they sent other family members to a relative's house for safety after the violence started.

Around 8 pm, rocks started hitting the house with a mob shouting outside and we put the lights off. Then a large flame came and the house caught fire, Nazar said.

He said his father hid under a sofa, but he grabbed him and they ran out.

Police came and put out the fire, but much of his family's belongings were destroyed, he said.

Later, the Bishop of Colombo also issued a statement urging the government to take action against the perpetrators.

President Sirisena appointed Public Administration minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara as the new law and order minister.

A position temporarily held by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe after public criticism over the government’s inaction to curb violence.

The Tourism Ministry said it did not expect any major impact of the seven-day emergency on the US$4 billion industry.

Kandy is a prime destination for foreign travellers, famous for its Tooth temple in honour of Buddha, tea gardens and natural beauty.

For tourists, this is not the ideal situation. There was nobody on the street save for the army and police.

Sri Lanka was for decades plagued by war between government forces and Tamil separatists. The government defeated the rebels in 2009.

EU ambassadors said in a statement that the latest attacks were very worrying and it is important that the government bring the perpetrators to justice.

Police in Sri Lanka said on Thursday (March 8) they had arrested the suspected leader and nine other suspects behind a wave of anti-Muslim attacks by Sinhalese Buddhist hardliners in a central highlands region this week.

Sri Lanka’s Kandy district has been rocked by communal clashes since Sunday following attacks on members of the minority Muslim community by nationalist crowds from the Sinhalese majority.

At least two people have been killed.

President Maithripala Sirisena decreed a state of emergency in Kandy on Wednesday, but crowds carried out more attacks targeting mosques and businesses belonging to Muslims overnight.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said all 10 people arrested belonged to a hardline Buddhist group. He named the suspected leader as Amith Jeewan Weerasinghe and said he belonged to a group called Mahason Balakaya.

He said the group had published videos of hate speech directed against Muslims.

Most of Sri Lanka’s Muslims live in the east and centre of the island and make up about 9 per cent of its 21 million people.

Buddhists make up about 70 per cent and ethnic Tamils, most of whom are Hindus, about 13 per cent.

Residents in Kandy district said the death of a Buddhist youth after an altercation with a group of Muslims had triggered the violence.

Two days after the death, a large crowd of Buddhists brought a symbolic coffin to protest against the death of the driver in Digana town, where most of the shops are either owned or rented by Muslims, residents said.

First they burnt the mosque, there were even women among the attackers. Then they started to burn all the Muslim shops, a resident said.

He said he had 3.7 million rupees (S$31,317.92) lying in his car which he had collected to start a new electric goods business.

But a crowd set fire to his car and beat him up before he could escape.

Some Buddhist nationalists have protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of Muslim Rohingya asylum-seekers from mostly Buddhist Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also been on the rise.

An upsurge of attacks against Muslims by Sinhala Buddhist militants in Sri Lanka has raised fears of a new round of communal violence, the International Crisis Group said in a report.

On Thursday, shops were still smouldering in Katugasthota town, where mobs also went on a rampage picking on the small stores and eateries run by Muslims. Groceries were strewn on the street.

Soldiers stood guard outside mosques in the area.

The situation is improving and there have been no major incidents of violence reported in the last 12 hours, said Major General Rukman Dias, the army commander in the area.

But he said the curfew would be re-imposed in Kandy as a measure of precaution.



Tourism Observer

SRI LANKA: Are We Safe To Go To Sri Lanka?

A state of emergency has attracted FCO warnings to travellers.

Sri Lanka caused a state of emergency yesterday, after violence erupted across the country.

This has sparked the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to issue an alert for British travellers to Sri Lanka.

UK Government has advised travellers to exercise caution when visiting this popular long-haul holiday destination.

The FCO read in a statement: On 6 March 2018, the Sri Lanka government announced a nationwide state of emergency in response to recent incidents of intern-communal violence in Ampara and Kandy.

As Sri Lanka’s second largest city, Kandy is a tourist hotspot known for its sacred Buddha temples and idyllic botanical gardens.

However, recent riots in the central district between Sinhalese and Muslim communities, following days of unrest, has sparked a state of emergency.

The special measures initially apply for ten days and allow the army to be deployed on the streets to re-inforce calm.

The FCO advise: The state of emergency may include curfews in specific locations across the country.

You should exercise caution, avoid protests and rallies, and comply with local security requirements.

The Sri Lankan Ambassador to the UAE, Sulaiman J Mohideen said the state of emergency has a preventive step taken by the government to prevent violence further spreading around the country.

He also said that the capital of Colombo is not affected, with usual operations continuing to take place including a cricket match between India and Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said, as a nation that endured a brutal war we are all aware of the values of peace, respect, unity & freedom.

The Govt condemns the racist & violent acts that have taken place over the last few days. A state of emergency has been declared & we will not hesitate to take further action.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence. Since that time, the idyllic Indian Ocean island nation has been trying to rebuild its tourism industry after a 28-year long civil war divided the country apart.

The last state of emergency, which was in place throughout the war, ceased in November 2011.

Now flight services have not been affected. Neither have travel and tour operators.

TUI said The overall level of FCO advice has not changed and there are currently no travel restrictions within the advice.

Therefore, at present it is advised to adopt a wait-and-watch approach and contact your travel provider if you have any concerns.

The FCO said most visits to Sri Lanka are trouble-free.

Take precautions if you must visit Sri Lanka now.

Meanwhile, Fresh violence on Thursday erupted in Muslim neighbourhoods in Sri Lanka's hilly central district where communal clashes have destroyed shops and homes.

This is on a day when President Maithripala Sirisena divested the law and order portfolio from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The communal violence between majority Sinhala Buddhists and minority Muslims in the Indian Ocean island nation has not subsided despite a state of emergency and a heavy deployment of troops in riot-hit Kandy district.

Anti-Muslim riots, since Monday, have damaged several homes, businesses and mosques. The violence erupted after the death of a man from the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese majority last week.

To rein in communal violence, a state of emergency has been imposed by the Sirisena government after seven years.

The government ordered the internet blackout, blocking of social media websites including Facebook and instant messaging app Whatsapp.

This is after police discovered mobs of Sinhalese rioters were using social media to coordinate attacks on Muslim establishments.

Petrol bombs were hurled at a mosque even as armoured vehicles and heavily-armed troops fortified the troubled district, where anti-Muslim violence has left two people dead.

Eighty one people, including the main suspect, who had led anti-Muslim violence were arrested, police said.

A man, named Vidanapathiranage Amith Jeewan Weerasinghe, who is believed to be the main suspect and nine others were arrested,police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.

They were arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) in a special operation.

They were arrested for inciting communal violence and hate speech, he said.

He said since 4 March, there have been two deaths due to clashes. One of them died of suffocation due to an arson attack while the other had died due to a grenade explosion, he added.

During the period, there have been 45 attacks against Muslim properties throughout the Kandy district and at least four religious sites had been attacked, the spokesperson said.

The arrests of main suspects came after the police came under increasing public criticism over its alleged inaction to prevent violence in spite of the imposition of curfew.

Earlier in the day, President Sirisena replaced Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the law and order minister to curb the ongoing violence.

Ranjith Madduma Bandara, a senior politician from Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) was sworn in as the new minister in charge of the police.

Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the law and order minister 11 days ago.

On Wednesday, the President toured Kandy and ordered security forces to use the full force of the law against troublemakers.

More reinforcements were sent to the area on Wednesday night to assist police.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has condemned the violence and urged Colombo to ensure that appropriate measures are swiftly taken to restore normalcy in affected areas.

The Kandy region is about 115 kilometres from Colombo. It is a popular tourist as well as Buddhist pilgrimage destination.

The Sinhalese Buddhists are about 75 percent of Sri Lanka's 21 million population while Muslims are 10 percent of the population.

Tensions between Muslim groups and the majority Sinhalese Buddhist community in the country have escalated since the end of the civil war in May 2009.

In 2014, violence directed against Muslim minority groups broke out in the southwestern town of Aluthgama, following a rally by hardline Buddhist nationalist monks, resulting in the death of at least three Muslims.



Tourism Observer

SRI LANKA: Tourism Fest With The Spirit Of Christmas Ends Well

The first ever 'Tourism Fest with the spirit of Christmas'organized by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) in association with other tourism institutions under the Ministry of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs was a huge success.

Thousands of foreign and local visitors thronged the Arcade, Independence Square during the five day event from December 19.

The idea behind 'Tourism Fest 2015' was to portray Sri Lankan food,culture, gems, handicrafts, tea, shopping and entertainment at one venue, offering both foreign and local visitors the opportunity of experiencing\the many facets of the country in one place.

Tourism Fest 2015 was opened by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

President Maithripala Sirisena was the Chief Guest on the last day of the fest.Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Harsha De Silva, Tourism and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga and Advisor to the Ministry of Policy Planning Dinesh Weerakkody also participated.