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Sri Lanka offers discounts to boost tourist numbers
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IANS | 14 Jan, 2020
Sri Lanka, the Indian Ocean island known for its pristine beaches and
sprawling tea plantations, has recorded a drastic slump in tourist
numbers in 2019 after the Easter Sunday bombings that killed over 250
people.
The significant drop in tourist activity is one of the
myriad consequences of the April 21, 2019 terrorist attacks on three
luxury hotels and as many Catholic churches in Sri Lanka, reports Efe
news.
According to official data, around 40 of the victims and 19
injured persons were foreign visitors from different countries,
including India, China, Denmark, Spain and the UK.
The Sri
Lankan Ministry of Tourism said that the number of tourist arrivals
dropped by 70 per cent after the attack, going from 166,975 tourists to
37,802 between April and May.
In 2019, around 1.9 million people
visited the island, with the majority of the visits taking place before
the attacks, during the first four months of the year.
According
to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), the top markets
were India, the UK, China, Germany and Australia.
But experts
have said that even the SLTDA data does not reflect the complete picture
of the economic losses to the sector, key to Sri Lanka's economy, in
2019 compared to the previous year.
"When we compare with 2018,
2019 recorded a drastic drop. Even today we had tourist cancellations
for the month of February," Roshi Stronach, director Sales and Marketing
at Lion Royal Resorts, told Efe new son Tuesday.
Since the
attacks in April, which targeted three of the most upscale hotels in the
country, hotel chains have had to engage in a tariff war to compete in a
crashing market.
Five-star accommodations are being offered at
three-star tariffs in a desperate attempt to attract visitors, which in
turn chokes the medium and low-range sector, Stronach said.
Rooms
originally priced at $420 per night in one of the most luxurious hotels
of the country, was currently being offered at around $100 with
breakfast included, a tactic which is pressurizing lower-category
establishments to offer rooms at around half of this price due to an
evident lack of tourists.
Former SLTDA director-general and
industry veteran Upali Ratnayake concurred that the data released by the
authority about the number of visits did not offer the complete
information about the situation.
He said clearer data was needed
to understand the industry-wide slump, and why the arrival numbers did
not convert to revenue or income for the sector.
Responding to
the downturn, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has ordered the
launch of a promotional plan for the country which plans a recovery
within the next five years.
"Every step has to have immediate
results. I am prepared to take the decisions that need to be taken for
the country without fear," he said.
Rajapaksa has set a target
of generating revenues worth $10 billion through tourism by 2025, a goal
that seems quite ambitious at the moment, even as Colombo's beaches lie
vacant.
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Customs Exchange Rates |
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Import |
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As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
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