SLAITO President Thilak Weerasinghe along with tourism industry veterans Tourism Advisory Committee Chairman Hiran Cooray and The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka President M. Shanthikumar during a recent media briefing – File photo

These clashes were the result of us, from the Private Sector, not agreeing with you on various matters brought up by you at the Board Level disregarding our advice, most of which were matters related to land owned/acquired by the Board and the resulting Court cases

• SLAITO President Thilak Weerasinghe’s response to SL Tourism Chief Kimarli Fernando’s allegations throws open explosive revelations

The ongoing battle between Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando and the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) is getting uglier with the latter’s President Thilak Weerasinghe response to allegations by the former making public explosive revelations. 

Here are excerpts of Weerasinghe’s letter which has been copied to the Tourism Secretary, SLTDA Director-General, and President of industry associations. 

He was responding to Fernando’s recent letter which the Daily FT published last week and accessible online at https://www.ft.lk/front-page/SL-Tourism-Chief-fumes-over-SLAITO-efforts-to-undermine-regulatory-authority/44-733713

Your allegation that our association has undermined the SLTDA, and other Government Tourism Bodies is absolutely baseless. On the contrary, we have always worked together and supported all of them, throughout, including, during the past two years and three months. 

As a responsible body of the industry, it is our duty to point out any matters/decisions that seem detrimental to the Tourism

Industry. Therefore, it is incorrect to construe this constructive criticism as undermining. However, in spite of our warnings, you went ahead with some of those decisions.

We have no objection whatsoever to increasing Tour Guide Fees. In fact, it is the SLAITO that has initiated and continued with a practice of having discussions with the Sri Lanka Institute of National Tourist Guide Lecturers (SLINTGL), once in two years, and agree on a fair wage taking all factors into consideration.

Further, what is agreed upon is only a minimum rate and the practice in the industry is that the guides get paid much higher wages depending on their experience, attitude, and skill. We have tried explaining this to you many times but like in all situations. You are adamant and only hear your own voice.

The objection was never about increasing the rate, it was the timing and the method of how you announced the increase, in true Kimarli style'. It was done at the height of a pandemic, when the country was closed for Tourism and DMCs and Hotels were laying off staff or effecting salary cuts, due to there being zero tourist arrivals. 

Anyone with an iota of business sense will not promote/promise a 300% rate increase, without even discussing the matter with those that employ the Tour Guides at such a time when the industry has come to a standstill. All you ended up doing was to create friction amongst Industry Stakeholders, who otherwise worked harmoniously over the years. The proof is in the numbers and revenue the industry generated in 2018. Therefore, again, only you know best why you did what you did.

For your information, SLAITO has had discussions with the SLINTGL and has already agreed and our members have been adhering to an increased minimum wage since January after business picked up, in spite of the SLTDA stipulated minimum wage remains unchanged. 

The increase granted was 62.5% and a further increase has been agreed upon and will take effect from 1 January 2023.

When a proposal to offer LKR 25,000 per Tour Guide and LKR 15,000 per Chauffeur Guide as Financial Support was brought up, I agreed in principle that this must be given. 

However, I requested for clarification, asking for the number of Tour Guides and Chauffeur Guides that would receive this benefit, in order to maintain transparency, because the total pay-out proposed, did not tally and was leaving room for abuse.

Objection to changing the present Tourism Act is not one that has been raised only by the SLALTO. It is a collective call from all stakeholders including the Chairman of the Tourism Task Force who has invested heavily in the industry and contributed by way of TDL, without which there would be no funds for Tourism Promotion or running the Institutions of the Industry.

The current Tourism Act has served the industry well and it was an Act that was deliberated upon for over 10 years with all stakeholders before it was finalised and implemented paving the way for Private Sector Participation enabling the Board to benefit from their experience and also act as watchdogs for the expenditure of public/industry funds.

It would be a crime to simply repeal such a piece of legislation with something drafted by ill-informed persons, from outside the industry, especially at a time when not only the industry but the entire country is in an Economic Turmoil, pushing it through within a matter of a few months, without taking into account the stakeholder input, when Tourism is a 95% Private Sector driven Industry, where the role of the Government is only as a regulator.

Please understand that you are merely a Political Appointee to a Government Institution, a Caretaker for a limited period of time. Therefore, your statement "your protest held outside my institution" is not valid.

The protest was held by Tourism Industry Stakeholders on the road outside the SLTDA and SLITHM buildings, which are also public property. Any citizen of this country is free to protest in any public place. 

Your attitude toward ownership of the tourism industry is very clear through this one statement. This is exactly how you have behaved during your entire tenure, on the basis that the whole industry is your personal property.

Reference to the Act was just one slogan out of many that were exhibited by the participants which clearly showcased one of the many requests that were being made by them.

Your utterances about the Private Sector Members wanting to cling to Board Seats is an old record that you keep playing over and over again. It is not a case that they beg for these seats but are offered to them by the Honourable Minister after making a selection out of the names recommended to him by the respective Associations in accordance with the Act.

We are all champions of our individual businesses who have kept this industry vibrant and alive through some of the most harrowing times in history and preserved it thus far, for all stakeholders big and small. 

Holding Board Seats is no big deal for us, except that we consider it a right, as it is us that bring in the TDL that keep the coffers full at Sri Lanka Tourism, without which there would be no “Pot of Gold” that attracts persons of your calibre to hold onto positions, when you are clearly being rejected, by the stakeholders.

I recall with dismay how you had the audacity to discredit the former Chairmen who have rendered a valuable service to the industry as being dishonest and bowed down to the industry to enjoy favours, in one of your recent communiques.

The Legal Tender in this country is the rupee. Therefore, we do justifiably object to the dollarisation of the industry. Hotels quote in dollars and are paid by the DMCs in the legal currency of the country converted at the time of settlement so the hotels do enjoy the exchange gain when their costs are all 100%, rupee costs.

Whereas DMCs, on the other hand, have Hotel Rates, Entry Permit Rates, etc., already pegged to the dollar, and the institutions including the Government already enjoy the benefit of the exchange gain. However, going further and trading in dollars will only devalue our currency further.

All our members are SLTDA registered DMCs. The funds they receive in foreign exchange are brought into the country through the legal banking system. Most SME sector DMCs members don't have foreign currency accounts and as such the funds come directly into LKR accounts. DMCs that do have US accounts and receive funds into them, have to convert into LKR within a month, as per current financial regulations.

As a former banker, you should understand that when a foreign exchange payment takes place between two local companies, a part gets repatriated, as a commission. Therefore, when transactions are carried out locally in foreign exchange, a part of that hard-earned money goes back. Further, the cost of each transaction varies between $ 15 and $ 40.

Tourism is indeed a vital sector of Sri Lanka's economy, and the best that can happen now to ensure that the stakeholders are left to re-build and develop it during this critical period for the benefit of all stakeholders and the future generations is that you be replaced with a more competent person with industry experience or at least business acumen, who will possess the ability to unite the industry and steer it through these troubled times

The entire industry is aware of how the SLTDA made money out of the Covid Insurance as well as the PCR Tests whilst insisting they be made in dollars. This again is illegal going by the Act. We stand by our stance that dollarisation is not the best thing for the industry or our currency.

You were in a deep slumber both when the pandemic hit as well as when the current crisis broke out at the end of February. It took you over a month to come out of your slumber and invite me and the President of the THASL for a discussion. This was preceding an SLTDA Board Meeting, and it was clear that you only invited us to show the world that you were talking to stakeholders,

This was not the time to be holding meetings with our members who were otherwise occupied having been left to their own resources to ensure they delivered the holidays they had promised their clients.

You then did a round of visits to the five-star Hotels in Colombo to make a statement that you visited stakeholders to help solve their problems, this again shows that your interest is only in the big and luxury properties whilst talking about being people-centric and working for the SME sector.

Your handling of the COVID situation by charging excessive amounts for PCRs and Insurance to make money was certainly not assisting the industry. 

When the pandemic broke out you were not contactable, and it was the SLAITO with SLINTGL that set up the 24-hour Operations Room to assist tourists that we have stuck here with no way of getting out. 

Arbitrarily changing protocols as and when you and some of your favourites at the SLTDA who knew nothing about Tourism felt like it, was definitely not the way to have gone. You talk about re-starting Tourism, when it was you, as the Chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism wrote to our Ambassador in Moscow insisting that they should write to the Tour Operators in Russia and discourage them from Promoting Tourism to Sri Lanka. 

You alone, know best, the reasons for your destructive actions. I would like to suggest to you that you have friendly conversations with a few of our Past Chairmen to ascertain from them the strategies that they had adopted during their tenures to come out of Crises such as the Central Bank Bombing, CTO Bombing, BIA Attack, etc., by maintaining a regular dialogue with the Industry Members to discuss the problems they face/assistance they require, regularly educating the Overseas Tour Operators about the situation on ground with Updates and assuring them of their safety in Sri Lanka/ inviting them to visit Sri Lanka, etc.

It is disgusting to mention that you have never thought of any of these strategies but always tried your best to bulldoze your way through according to your whims and fancies.

My personal or business travel should not be of any concern to you. As the President of an Association which is an Apex Body, I have adopted a policy of sharing the responsibilities. The Vice Presidents, Past Presidents, and the Members of the Committee carry on the activities of the Association and Industry. It was our Vice Presidents and Committee Members that contacted the Secretary to the Ministry in order to obtain passes for members to get fuel through the Transport Board Depot Network and also address a communique to the Overseas Missions and Tour Operators assuring them that Tourism will be prioritised, and guests will not be inconvenienced in spite of the various crises. Therefore, I disagree that it was your efforts that kept the industry moving forward during my five-day absence due to the pre-planned business trip to France.

I had not hidden anywhere as you keep on mentioning but have been continuing with a pre-arranged Business Trip. 

In point of fact, you may recall that I had already mentioned to you my pre-planned absence from the country when we met prior to the SLTDA Board Meeting.

You still don't seem to understand how Tourism works. It is because the members of the Apex Association invest in the industry, which results in bringing in the tourists, that the benefit is shared with the Suppliers of the Industry.

All grassroots level Service Providers were assured of the benefits of Tourism because our members invested in promoting Tourism in the country. They formed their own Groups by way of Regional Associations and later on sought the membership of the Apex Bodies expressly showing off their consent to be partners in the industry.

Entrepreneurs invested in accommodation units to suit any category of the visitor which resulted in building a solid foundation for this important Industry catering to tourists from all walks of life. Stakeholders who were active prior to 2019, will no doubt vouch for this fact.

Although you try to show that you are the saviour of the SMEs, you will recollect that when you first took office, your rhetoric was that only 'High End' Tourism should be promoted and encouraged. It is the belief of the stakeholders, that you were promoting this concept as you were pushing the agenda of the members of your society.

Let me tell you that all these clashes were the result of us, from the Private Sector, not agreeing with you on various matters brought up by you at the Board Level disregarding our advice, most of which were matters related to land owned/acquired by the Board and the resulting Court Cases. These have resulted in dragging the Board into unwarranted Legal Disputes which are detrimental to the image of the Board.

It is interesting to note that the first such case was with your own Legal Officer/Secretary to the Board Inoka Punchihewa. Some of the others include a dispute with Hardy Muzzamil regarding land in Yala, and payment of Legal Fees. 

I had pointed out with proof documents about the entire Legal Process including the selection, appointment, payment for Lawyers, etc at least on two occasions which you disregarded. Tourism is indeed a Vital Sector of Sri Lanka's Economy, and the best that can happen now to ensure that the stakeholders are left to re-build and develop it during this critical period for the benefit of all stakeholders and the future generations is that you be replaced with a more competent person with industry experience or at least business acumen, who will possess the ability to unite the Industry and steer it through these troubled times.