Net hotel bookings fell 186% on average over the week following the attacks on churches and hotels on Easter Sunday
A police officer stands inside a training camp allegedly linked to Islamist militants, in Kattankudy near Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, May 5 2019. Picture: REUTERS/DANISH SIDDIQUI
Tourism, which accounts for 5% of the country’s GDP, has suffered as tourists from around the world cancelled hotel and flight bookings fearing more attacks. Cancellation rates at hotels across the country averaged 70% as of Saturday, with the capital, Colombo, taking a bigger hit, Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau chair Kishu Gomes said. “Some airlines have also discontinued frequency of flights. Load factor is much lower than it used to be,” Gomes said. “It is a worrying factor for sure.”Tourism took off in Sri Lanka, which boasts a 1,600km-long coastline, following the end of the decades-long civil war with Tamil separatists in 2009.
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