The two blasts last on crowded buses in Sri Lanka’s south, seen by observers as retaliation for military killings of Tamil civilians in the Northeast, come as serious blows to the country’s tourism industry, which was already reeling from sharp falls in visitors, especially from Western countries.
Tourism brought $450 million dollars into Sri Lanka's $23 billion economy last year, and is one of the main foreign currency earners for the country along with tea, textiles and remittances from abroad.
The escalation of violence throughout 2006 had already depressed numbers of arrivals in what is usually peak season, with the Sri Lanka's hotel industry estimated to have lost US$120 million in 2006.
Even in mid-December, which is usually peak season, the President of the Tourist Hoteliers Association of Sri Lanka, Mr. Hiran Cooray, was lamenting: “usually resort hotels would be doing at least 80% but now they are struggling to do 20% even after giving special offers.”
UK, Germany, France, Italy and New Zealand, some of the major countries that generate the majority of high spending tourists, have issued travel advisories against their nationals from visiting Sri Lanka.
German arrivals fell 42.9 percent to 3,229, while holidaymakers from Briton slipped 29.3 percent to 5,180, LBO reported.
Not even the bargain basement travel deals on offer have lured many tourists to the island's south coast.
The adverse publicity Sri Lanka received in the last half of 2006 was very badly timed as October and November was the peak booking period for the winter 2006/2007 season.
These include a suspected LTTE attack on the Sri Lankan naval base in the harbour in Galle. The southern town is a prime tourist destination.
“Bulk of the prospective bookings have gone to other destinations,” vice president of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, Srilal Miththapala, told LBO.
The tourist industry directly employs 150,000 workers and affects the livelihoods of half a million people -- from shopkeepers selling batik sarongs and incense sticks at tourist strips, to coconut water vendors on the beach.
"Tourism is a key sector, and this year's drop in revenues will affect disposable incomes, which in turn will hurt the economy as a whole," Dushyanth Wijayasinghe, research head at Asia Securities, told Reuters.
Senaka De Silva, who heads an association representing hoteliers in the south, says the numbers would further decrease in the face of recent escalation of violence, especially the blasts last week which killed more than 20 people.
“When tourists learn of incidents such as the [Hikkaduwa] blast, they will certainly think twice before coming to Sri Lanka,” he told the Sunday Times.
“Besides road closures and security checks also discourage the tourists from visiting Sri Lanka.”
The Sunday Times said many hoteliers in the region simply did not inform their guests about the blast because they did not want to cause “unnecessary” panic.
“If they inquire about the situation we inform them very briefly. We do this to avoid worrying our guests unnecessarily,” a Galle hotel official said.
Thousands of travellers normally flock to Hikkaduwa, a sun-kissed, palm-fringed spot on Sri Lanka's southwest coast, renowned for its coral reefs and ochre beaches.
"This is the worst it's been in 30 years," W. M. Bandaranayake, manager of the Coral Sands Hotel on Hikkaduwa's main strip, told Reuters.
"We had more guests after the tsunami," he said in an interview on Dec. 27.
"Every day there are more cancellations," said Bandaranayake, whose hotel is running less than 20 percent full at a time of year when it is usually overbooked.
All this is a stark contrast from when the ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE was signed in 2002, when the island became a recommended tourist destination.
Luxury resorts and boutique hotels, some charging as much as $3,000 a night, were feverishly constructed along the southern coast, and several 5-star hotels in Colombo were upgraded to meet the surge in affluent overseas guests.
"There were positive signs all around us, and the entire tourist industry was investing heavily," said Roshan Gurusinghe, business development head of the upscale Cinnamon Group, told Reuters.
The Group’s occupancy was down 40 percent last December.
Even the impact of the tsunami that battered the south, east and north coasts, was cushioned by the arrival of foreign aid workers.
"Strange as it may sound, you couldn't get a room in Colombo after the tsunami," said Gurusinghe. "That business is long gone."
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Central Cultural Fund (CCF), which mainly depends on income from cultural tourists who visit the island’s archaeological sites, is now lacking funds even to pay the salaries of its workers due to the drop in arrivals.
CCF’s income for the peak December 2006 season was a mere Rs. 18 million, while it needs at least Rs. 42 million to pay the salaries of around 2500 employees working at various archaeological sites, colombopage.com reported.
Tourism brought $450 million dollars into Sri Lanka's $23 billion economy last year, and is one of the main foreign currency earners for the country along with tea, textiles and remittances from abroad.
The escalation of violence throughout 2006 had already depressed numbers of arrivals in what is usually peak season, with the Sri Lanka's hotel industry estimated to have lost US$120 million in 2006.
Even in mid-December, which is usually peak season, the President of the Tourist Hoteliers Association of Sri Lanka, Mr. Hiran Cooray, was lamenting: “usually resort hotels would be doing at least 80% but now they are struggling to do 20% even after giving special offers.”
UK, Germany, France, Italy and New Zealand, some of the major countries that generate the majority of high spending tourists, have issued travel advisories against their nationals from visiting Sri Lanka.
German arrivals fell 42.9 percent to 3,229, while holidaymakers from Briton slipped 29.3 percent to 5,180, LBO reported.
Not even the bargain basement travel deals on offer have lured many tourists to the island's south coast.
The adverse publicity Sri Lanka received in the last half of 2006 was very badly timed as October and November was the peak booking period for the winter 2006/2007 season.
These include a suspected LTTE attack on the Sri Lankan naval base in the harbour in Galle. The southern town is a prime tourist destination.
“Bulk of the prospective bookings have gone to other destinations,” vice president of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, Srilal Miththapala, told LBO.
The tourist industry directly employs 150,000 workers and affects the livelihoods of half a million people -- from shopkeepers selling batik sarongs and incense sticks at tourist strips, to coconut water vendors on the beach.
"Tourism is a key sector, and this year's drop in revenues will affect disposable incomes, which in turn will hurt the economy as a whole," Dushyanth Wijayasinghe, research head at Asia Securities, told Reuters.
Senaka De Silva, who heads an association representing hoteliers in the south, says the numbers would further decrease in the face of recent escalation of violence, especially the blasts last week which killed more than 20 people.
“When tourists learn of incidents such as the [Hikkaduwa] blast, they will certainly think twice before coming to Sri Lanka,” he told the Sunday Times.
“Besides road closures and security checks also discourage the tourists from visiting Sri Lanka.”
The Sunday Times said many hoteliers in the region simply did not inform their guests about the blast because they did not want to cause “unnecessary” panic.
“If they inquire about the situation we inform them very briefly. We do this to avoid worrying our guests unnecessarily,” a Galle hotel official said.
Thousands of travellers normally flock to Hikkaduwa, a sun-kissed, palm-fringed spot on Sri Lanka's southwest coast, renowned for its coral reefs and ochre beaches.
"This is the worst it's been in 30 years," W. M. Bandaranayake, manager of the Coral Sands Hotel on Hikkaduwa's main strip, told Reuters.
"We had more guests after the tsunami," he said in an interview on Dec. 27.
"Every day there are more cancellations," said Bandaranayake, whose hotel is running less than 20 percent full at a time of year when it is usually overbooked.
All this is a stark contrast from when the ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE was signed in 2002, when the island became a recommended tourist destination.
Luxury resorts and boutique hotels, some charging as much as $3,000 a night, were feverishly constructed along the southern coast, and several 5-star hotels in Colombo were upgraded to meet the surge in affluent overseas guests.
"There were positive signs all around us, and the entire tourist industry was investing heavily," said Roshan Gurusinghe, business development head of the upscale Cinnamon Group, told Reuters.
The Group’s occupancy was down 40 percent last December.
Even the impact of the tsunami that battered the south, east and north coasts, was cushioned by the arrival of foreign aid workers.
"Strange as it may sound, you couldn't get a room in Colombo after the tsunami," said Gurusinghe. "That business is long gone."
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Central Cultural Fund (CCF), which mainly depends on income from cultural tourists who visit the island’s archaeological sites, is now lacking funds even to pay the salaries of its workers due to the drop in arrivals.
CCF’s income for the peak December 2006 season was a mere Rs. 18 million, while it needs at least Rs. 42 million to pay the salaries of around 2500 employees working at various archaeological sites, colombopage.com reported.
