EVEN though visitor numbers to Sri Lanka remain on target for the year, high-end hotels and resorts in the country have registered 10 to 15 per cent dips in occupancy levels this winter.
Arrivals rose 18.1 per cent year-on-year in September, while visitor numbers from January to September increased 16 per cent year-on-year to 693,772, paving the way for Sri Lanka to reach its target of one million visitors for 2012.
“However the arrivals (growth) is not reflected among the high-end hotels because of poor promotion of Sri Lanka overseas,” lamented Malin Hapugoda, managing director of Aitken Spence Hotels, the second largest hotel chain in the country.
Hapugoda explained that the lack of overseas promotion put Sri Lanka at a disadvantage against regional competitors such as Thailand and Malaysia, which were “very visible on the world stage”.
Other industry players pointed to a changing inbound profile as tourists to Sri Lanka increasingly seek cheaper accommodation options.
“The three- to five-star range is not attractive anymore,” said a source from a top inbound travel operator, adding that bookings for this segment had dropped by 10-15 per cent for the current winter season.
