A disgruntled Anuradhapura Tourism and Hoteliers Association (ATHA) this week claimed that the Budget 2022 had completely ignored their proposals submitted to the Government in reviving the industry post-pandemic.

“Collectively we express our disappointment on the Budget 2022, which was presented by the Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa who has ignored the third highest foreign exchange earner to the economy,” Anuradhapura Tourism and Hoteliers Association members told the Daily FT.

They pointed out that despite submitting several proposals to the Government on a number of occasions, namely to Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Tourism Ministry and Finance Ministry, on how to revive the industry, the stakeholders had not received any response. 

The stakeholders took umbrage with the Finance Minister’s assertion that the industry did not require further support as moratoriums had already been extended to them. They however charged that the Minister was seemingly unaware of the actual definition of the moratorium which they said refers to “prohibition, suspension and freezing”. 

“The moratorium extended to the tourism industry did not help the stakeholders, as those were not arranged in a way to assist us out of trouble, but rather pushed all of us into more debt. They have only postponed the loans and have added that interest into a new loan, resulting in multiple loans. This system has made us creditors for life. Those that had just one loan to pay today have five of them thanks to the moratorium introduced.” 

The ATHA also pointed out that the former Central Bank Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman had assured that their debts would be paid off with support from foreign donor agencies, but that initiative too had fallen off. 

The members of the association also shared their displeasure over the Finance Minister’s attitude towards the industry. “The Finance Minister said that the Government need not extend support, as the SLTDA has sufficient funds from the Tourism Development Levy (TDL) collected. He has completely ignored at his convenience that successive governments from 2011 onwards have taken over Rs. 2 billion from the fund.”

Although the Finance Minister said in his Budget speech that the industry had benefited from the end of the 30-year civil war, the ACHA said tourism stakeholders are still struggling to reach full potential due to the lack of attention paid to developing the sector.

“The Easter Sunday terror attacks were a key eye-opener for all parties that the Government – from President in his capacity as the Defence Minister and Chief of Defence – neglected the State Intelligence on threats of possible attacks, which led to a drastic drawback in our industry. As per the findings of the probes conducted, former President Maithripala Sirisena, the former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundera and Former Defence Secretary Premasiri Fernando knew about it and yet ignored the warnings, which could have stopped it. This is a great example of how the highest authorities in our country have let down the third foreign exchange earning industry.

“Unfortunately, in 10 years post-war, Sri Lanka’s tourism fell below its potential and for the past three years, all stakeholders engaged in the sector have undergone multiple challenges to keep their business afloat.

“We could not print money as fast as the Central Bank is doing today to pay our overheads during the past three years, with no international travellers visiting the country. Although the Government conveniently says that the foreign exchange crisis got worse due to the loss of $ 10 billion in tourism earnings over the past two years due to COVID, they have not put into practice any tangible solutions to address it.” 

The members of the association outlined that the only way Sri Lanka as a whole could overcome the economic crisis that it is in was through the boosting of foreign exchange earnings, and pointed out that tourism was the best and most efficient way to do so. 

ACHA said the Government needed to recognise the importance of the sector to economic growth – not just propaganda, but in actual terms of action. 

“For over a decade the country has not rolled out a global marketing campaign, we need to do it now and fast by using digital marketing tools. We need to address financial distress in the tourism sector with practical and immediate solutions. The government-to-government linkages to promote certain historic and culturally important sites to boost tourism in both countries, and introducing all-inclusive tour packages, are some of the key suggestions.”

The association claimed that due to negligence shown towards Anuradhapura in tourism development programs, the tourist industry in the area had continued to deteriorate, leading to several tourist hotels going bankrupt.

Tourist arrivals to Anuradhapura dropped by nearly 70% post-Easter Sunday attacks, which was followed by COVID-19, which completely halted local travellers as well.

They also said these proposed initiatives would be more effective if the Government appointed a separate institute to develop the economy and tourism in the North Central Province, whilst also upgrading the domestic airport of Anuradhapura to international standards and extending the two-lane rail track from Polgahawela, so as to attract the tourists to the sacred city.

“One of the key reasons why people ignored the historic and culturally important city was the lack of accessibility and facilities provided for tourists,” they pointed out. 

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