The city hotels are looking at the best season after 2018 as forward bookings for 2024 end seems very positive, said President Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL), M. Shanthikumar.
He said that the city hoteliers hope to complete the 2024 year averaging around 60% occupancy while the hotels outside Colombo should average over 70%.
He, however, said that if the Minimum Room Rate was implemented for City Hotels the yield would be higher but now the rooms rates are decided individually in some instances without giving the proper value of the property.
He said these averages are still lower than 2018 which is still the best year for tourism but expects 2025 to be the best year for the industry.
“We need the Government to look at exceptional financial models, development models for the revival of Tourism.”
There is no doubt the industry has the potential to achieve the 10 Billion USD revenue in the coming years if strategically handled.
“There is no doubt the industry has the potential to achieve the 10 billion USD revenue in the coming years if strategically handled.”
Looking at the number of arrivals in 2024 it will be around two million still lower than 2.3 million registered in 2018.
He said that one of the biggest issues to dampen the arrival mark was the Visa of arrival controversy created by the previous government where the visa procedure was very complicated. “This is in the backdrop where neighbors like Maldives offer free visas and many other countries like Thailand offer free visas.”
He said that the European travel advisory on Arugam Bay also dented the confidence for travellers to Sri Lanka.
Asked why foreigners complain that Sri Lanka rates are high, he justified it by saying that the overheads have increased.
“We have been asking successive governments for many years to lower the electricity traffic and bring the tourism industry on par with other industries as we are among the top three highest forex earners to the country.
“The 18% VAT imposed by the previous government also raises rates and the industry cannot be blamed for this,” he said.
