Tourism hara-kiri if minimum room rate implemented – SLAITO
Tourism sector will face major hara-kiri situation and fall to its worst manmade disaster if authorities decide to implement the proposed minimum room rate (MRR) system from August 1 2023 said President of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) Nishad Wijetunga.
At a special press conference held at the Ceylon Chamber yesterday he said that currently Colombo city is considered as a economical destination and if MRR is introduced it will become an overpriced destination driving away tourists to more economical destination like Bangkok, Malaysia, Dubai or New Delhi and make Sri Lanka a destination limited to ‘essential travelers’ only.
He explained that currently New Delhi five star hotels sell a ‘bed and breakfast double’ package for around USD 90, Kuala Lumpur 60, Dubai 83 and under the MRR Sri Lanka will be priced at a staggering USD 198 automatically making Sri Lanka a high priced destination. The same difference in price will trickle down to four and three star hotels as well. A three Star hotel double in Dubai will be around USD 73 and the same package in Sri Lanka will be priced at USD 113.He said the MRR will kill the competitive edge Sri Lanka has and make Colombo city a lonely place sans any tourists and these prices will also affect locals booking for hotels in the city.
Vice President Nalin Jayasundara said Sri Lanka is slowly making a name for MICE (conference and meetings) events especially in the Indian market and the entire hard work done by Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando in this regard would be washed off due to high prices. “The current full board package offered to MICE participants which is around USD 150 will now almost double to USD 290, completely killing this emerging market.”
Colombo can call for these high prices if it can match the entertainment options offered by other cities. Mahen Kariyawasam, Past President of SLAITO said that the Minister of Tourism and the top management of the Sri Lanka Tourism had not properly been briefed while their association too was not consulted before presenting this move.
“Even leading five star hotels are against this as they know that arrivals will drop to almost zero if MRR is introduced.”
“He also challenged prices should be determined on supply and demand basis and MRR system is not implemented anywhere in the world and it was done in for two years and was an utter failure as there was a lot of undercutting.”
Committee Member SLAITO Rohan Abeywicrama said that this move is mooted by a few run down hotels who think they can earn higher revenue by this move.
“The scheme is not implemented yet and we are making a strong objection to stop it,” said Past President Mahen Kariwawasam.