By Venessa Anthony
With the reopening of airports on 21 January, there is understandable concern if things will spiral out of control with the pandemic. This move by the Government will be incredibly beneficial to Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and economy, but there’s still doubt of regulations being followed in light of the tourists from the “travel bubble” testing positive for the virus. We spoke to renowned personalities at hotels on their opinions on the matter.
The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Sanath Ukwatte, speaking to The Morning Brunch, shared: “We are thrilled with this decision, and welcome this move by the Government,” adding that “we need to support the revival of the travel industry in Sri Lanka”. He noted that the current pilot project where tourists were brought down to Sri Lanka under strict regulations did not fail: “The purpose of the project was to ensure that the guidelines are being followed. There were some hiccups which were rectified. Once the airports open, we are ready to receive the tourists.”
He observed that the regulations were followed to about 99% with a few gaps, but action has been taken on those who have failed to fall in line with the guidelines. “Even with the airport opening, the regulator will be monitoring all movement, because whoever comes to Sri Lanka as a tourist can reside at a Level One hotel and they have to show the confirmation of their booking at the time of arrival and only then will they be allowed to enter.
“In the Level One accommodation, tourists are permitted to stay within the premises and move around only to isolated areas exclusively for them. Tourists staying longer than 14 days are allowed stay in Level Two accommodation, which will be KPMG-certified ‘Safe and Secure’ accommodation and will be permitted to visit selected tourist sites accompanied by a registered tourist guide.”
He explained that Level One hotels operate within a bubble, so no local guests are allowed to enter.
He added that as an industry, they have taken maximum precautions to mitigate risks of tourists spreading the virus to the country. They have had quite a number of hotels operating as quarantine centres for the past nine months, and none of the patients spread the virus to the community. “We are very confident, provided that everyone follows guidelines, that we can have a very successful tourism industry. Once the vaccine comes in, we will be able to relax the guidelines further and go back to our old normal on operating the industry.”
We need to work with foreign and local customers: Le Grand, Galle
Le Grand, Galle Front Office Executive Sathil Ushan explained to us that they have been given options on how to handle the tourists that will visit. “We will give guests their freedom as long as they adhere to the measures in place. The best thing for our business right now would be to work with both foreign and local customers to bring our business back up, which is something that will improve gradually.” He also added that he wishes the programme that the Government plans on implementing on opening airports in January would start right away, rather than later, because they are in dire need of revenue, which has notably reduced since the coronavirus outbreak in March.
Learn and keep moving forward: Hilton Hotels
Hilton in Sri Lanka Area General Manager and Hilton, Colombo General Manager Manesh Fernando shared his thoughts on the pilot project that is currently happening in Sri Lanka: “Even the phrase pilot project suggests that it is a great first step forward. There is a famous term the Head of Microsoft uses; ‘learning forward’, where one learns by doing things instead of hypothesising and theorising. You initiate steps and see what happens.” He continued to explain that “this step forward showed us what could go wrong, so it was a good learning process for the ultimate opening of the airports at the end of the month”.
He noted that we currently still have a high number of cases being found per day: “It’s nothing new. This is our new normal, where just like when 9/11 happened, people thought no one will fly again, but that wasn’t the case. This caused extreme procedures to be put in place at airports where you need to remove your shoes, belts, and everyone is checked thoroughly.”
He added that in the same way, with the vaccine on its way, he believes we will maintain our social engagement and move forward. He stated that if, in case, a guest does test positive, it won’t be anything new, because they know how to handle it. “We have engagement rules laid out by all Hilton hotels that will be strongly imposed for the safety of our customers.” He also commented that a lot of research has been done, and it’s time we understand the challenges and what the antidote is, so we need to practice these measures, be self-resilient, and go to work. “We should not find excuses to not work, regardless of whatever goes on.”
Procedures are in place for the safety of guests: A hotel Down South
A hotel located in Galle, the management of which wished to remain anonymous, commented that they are very happy with the current pilot projects that are ongoing in terms of bringing tourists down to Sri Lanka. The hotel receives most of their foreign guest via travel agents that they are in close contact with, so they noted that they will be on the itinerary for tourists to visit when the airports reopen in January. They told us that they have procedures in place for the eventuality that a guest contracts the virus and have isolation rooms ready for them. They hope that more projects will be implemented with strict measures in place to prevent another outbreak.