Sri Lanka's $US4.4 billion ($A6.3 billion) tourism industry is reeling from cancellations as travellers shun the sun and sand Indian Ocean island after multiple suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people two weeks ago.
Suspected suicide bombers from little-known Islamic groups in Sri Lanka attacked churches and luxury hotels in the country on Easter Sunday, killing worshippers, tourists and their families. IS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Tourism, which accounts for five per cent of the country's gross domestic product, has suffered as tourists from around the world cancelled hotel and flight bookings fearing more attacks.
Sri Lankan security personnel check a foreign passenger while entering the Fort railway station in Colombo. Source: EPA
"It's a big blow to the economy, as well as the tourism industry," Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said in an interview on Saturday. "For the economy to develop, it's important tourism return to where it was before the attacks."
Net hotel bookings dropped a staggering 186 per cent on average over the week following the attacks compared to the same period last year, data from travel consultancy ForwardKeys showed. A decline of more than one hundred per cent indicates more cancellations than bookings.
Cancellation rates at hotels across the country averaged 70 per cent as of Saturday, with the capital Colombo taking a bigger hit, Sri Lanka's Tourism Bureau Chairman Kishu Gomes told Reuters.
A backpacker walks through May Day celebrations as security forces look on. Source: EPA
"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 of a 1,600 kilometre coastline, following the end of the decades-long civil war with Tamil separatists in 2009. It was Sri Lanka's third largest and fastest growing source of foreign currency last year.
Decisive policy and security measures will be important to revive the industry and support economic growth, the International Monetary Fund has said.
Sri Lanka remains on high alert in the wake of the attacks, especially as Ramadan approaches. Source: EPA
For now, businesses from luxury hotels to beach shacks are facing mounting losses.
