TNS Corner
Weddings Stay back as Sri Lanka tourism takes a hit

Nov 20, 2008, 03:30

By Paul Emmanuel – TNS

COLOMBO - On a blustery, rainy November day the entire island, the Isle of Skye, met in the bright glow of St Tugual's Chapel for the wedding of Matt Nicholls and the former Katell Murphy.

Matt and Katell wedding is one too many Sri Lanka lost recently. The couple originally planned to marry in Sri Lanka and started planning their wedding for early 2009. But the political turmoil in the Island nation made them to rethink and when the opportunity to marry in the chapel came up, they were delighted and decided to have the winter wedding they had always dreamed of.

Sri Lanka tourist arrivals fell 5.2 percent in October from a year ago as global financial turmoil and an intensified war between the government and Tamil Tigers kept visitors away from Island Nation.

Arrivals in October fell to 35,103 and totaled 352,649 in the first 10 months of 2008, bringing the year-to-date total down by 9.1 percent from the same period a year earlier, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority said.

As Matt and Katell stayed back, Tourist arrivals from Britain declined 14.2 percent last month to 6,477 and the number has dropped by 20.4 percent for Western Europe in the same period.

“One of our main markets, the United Kingdom, is hit. So we see a significant drop in tourist arrivals from the U.K. The global financial crisis has an impact on the industry now, in addition to the security situation," said the director-general of the state tourism body, S. Kalaiselvam.

Visitors from North America, South America and the Caribbean as well fell 17.8 percent to 1,854, the data showed.

Meanwhile Aviation analysts warned recently that Asian airlines will fail as tourism in the region slows and a worsening global economic outlook leads carriers such as Singapore Airlines to cut back flights.

The financial crisis is moving into the real economy as layoffs hurt consumer sentiment, leading airlines from China to India to post losses or layoff staff and hoteliers to focus on budget travellers as the luxury market takes a hit.

Tourism contributed about US$1.03 billion, or about 3 percent of gross domestic product, in the last year, according to the Sri Lankan Tourist Board.

With the world faces serious credit crunch situation, the tourist arrivals bound falls further, warns an Economist in the Sri Lankan Capital Colombo. Tourism is one of the country's top foreign exchange earners, along with tea, garments and remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad.