THASL meets as hotel industry braces for coronavirus impact

The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) yesterday met to consider in depth the current situation with regard to the coronavirus and the measures to be adopted.

THASL President Sanath Ukwatte said a comprehensive updated guideline has already been circulated amongst the hotels.

“All our member hotels are taking strictest possible precautions to ensure the safety of the public. Our priority is of course, the safety, and wellbeing of our employees and guests. Whenever a potential patient is discovered, we will follow a very rigorous procedure to which all our hotels are firmly committed to,” he said.

Ukwatte pointed out that the governing procedure that is laid down by the Health Authorities; is that no sooner a patient is identified, they have to be sent to the Infectious Disease Hospital for further examinations and for treatment.

Mandatory precautions such as training of staff, increasing hygiene standards have been put in place to ensure the fullest possible protection to stop an outbreak or spread of the virus.

“We would like to emphasise the importance of not giving way to panic which is entirely unjustified,” THASL Chief said.

“We are constantly in touch with the medical professionals to keep the situation under review from day to day and to intensify the steps currently being taken if required. In the meantime there is no crisis which needs to cause alarm,” he said. 

“It should be noted that only one positive case has been identified so far and all places visited by this patient have been thoroughly tested according to internationally prescribed procedures. Screening procedures are enforced not only at the airport but in hotels and other public places as well,” he said.

According to Ukwatte, misinformation circulated in social media can be very damaging to the country’s tourism industry, which is on the path of recovery after the Easter Sunday attacks, and contrary to the news articles, no hotel employee has contracted the coronavirus up to date. Noting that 2019 was one of the industry’s worst years, Ukwatte said: “We have banked 2020 with the Government’s stimulus package to be a year of recovery. However, similar epidemic such as MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory System) and SARS didn’t have a long-term impact on our business.”

He also said that although the demand from China is falling due to travel restrictions imposed by the Chinese Government, all in-bound tour operators and association are monitoring the situation very closely as it’s difficult to predict the impact on the industry at present.