The decision to extend the state of emergency for a month by Parliament will further hit the tourism industry that is expected to bring in the necessary foreign exchange to Sri Lanka. THASL President M. Shanthikumar said: “Our arrivals to the country will further drop in the coming weeks and months”.
He shared that the tourism sector stakeholders were of the view that President Ranil Wickremesinghe would lift the state of emergency without much delay. The Sri Lanka Association of Tourism Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) said the proclamation would negatively impact on tourist arrivals.
Parliament’s decision was approved by 120 members voting for and 63 voting against.The SLAITO said more governments would issue travel advisories against Sri Lanka and it is near impossible to remove the advisories that are already in place.“It just gets worse. With travel advisories issued against the nation, tourists do not feel safe coming in.
Also, making matters worse is that insurance companies are not keen to offer travel insurance policies in nations with emergency imposed. Even if they do, the policies are very expensive. This doesn’t augur well for us,” said SLAITO Immediate Past President Mahen Kariyawasam.