THASL hails Govt. move to boost tourism

• Says industry in over Rs.350 b in debt, calls on Govt. to step in to solve debt crisis
• Believes pilot project to open airport will help industry to understand new normal before formal reopening

The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) on Friday welcomed the new initiatives to boost tourism, whilst making key suggestions for better revival post COVID-19 pandemic. 

Speaking at its 55th Annual General Meeting (AGM), THASL President Sanath Ukwatte outlined four key requests to State Minister of Money and Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal for the quick revival of the industry post-pandemic.

The key suggestions include to introduce a Government backed and guaranteed long-term debt restructuring mechanism for the tourism industry and a moratorium on all hotel electricity bills to be extended till March 2021. 

“Today, the tourism industry is in over Rs.350 billion in debt. This is an unsustainable level considering tourism has suffered from no receipts from foreign visitors for nearly two whole years. This pandemic is unprecedented and for Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, the twin crises of the Easter Sunday attacks and COVID-19 has been crippling. No other major tourism destination has suffered like we have in these last two years,” he said.

Noting that local business has helped immensely to meet some of the overheads, he said that an industry like tourism with huge capital outlays and employees cannot sustain only on local business. “Local business accounts for only 20% of revenue. Once the moratoriums are lifted, we are concerned that there will be a large number of defaults, and high unemployment. We are thankful to the Minister for appointing,” he added.

He pointed out that reduced occupancy has not meant reduced inventory for hotels. “Our bills remain high as our properties must be maintained. Our occupancy levels with domestic tourism is not enough to pay our staff salaries. We are not in a position to pay our electricity bills until there is some recovery in tourism,” he said.

Ukwatte thereby called on the Government to play a proactive role, as solving debt crisis until the industry recovers considering it as task of great importance to all its members, big and small. 

“Ours is an industry that has never lost faith in Sri Lanka. Even during our 30 years of war, we continued to invest and believe in our country. Since 2009, we have invested nearly $ 10 billion in new developments. I do not know if any other industry has invested so much in the country. 

“But, from generating over $ 4.5 billion in foreign exchange earnings in 2018, today we are earning almost none and through no fault of ours we have been crippled. In our time of need, we ask the Government to invest and continue to have faith in our industry,” he stressed.

Ukwatte also welcomed the Government’s plans to open borders from Boxing Day (26 December) after a distressing year.

“We are hopeful that our industry will begin its path to recovery in 2021. We are glad to have former Ambassador to Russian Federation Udayanga Weeratunga, who has almost singlehandedly arranged 38 charter flights from Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan to come between end December and January, as a pilot project prior to formal opening of the airport. This will help the industry to understand the new health protocols before the country opens up to welcome foreign visitors,” he asserted.

“We are confident that the Government’s COVID-19 health guidelines will build up visitor confidence in our hotels and the country. It will spread the message that Sri Lanka is a safe place to travel.  Therefore, I wish to convey our thanks to the Minister of Tourism who is doing a magnificent task in getting our industry back on track and to Sri Lanka Tourism for developing these guidelines for hotels after extensive discussions with our association and with the Ministry of Health,” he said.

He said the industry will bounce back, but it will take at least two years to fully re-bounce. “Even though an implementation of an effective vaccine and immunity passports are fast becoming a reality, more and more travellers will be confident of going on long-haul holidays, we must understand that travelling will look different than it did pre-pandemic,” he added.

Ukwatte was re-elected as the President of the association, where THASL has now grown to have over 240 members.