Hotels likely to lose 80% in revenue

Hoteliers opened up their establishments on Tuesday but will witness a significant drop in revenue of about 80 per cent compared to earnings made last year. Permission was granted to open restaurants, banqueting and bars while maintaining the required health guidelines.

City Hotels Association President M. Shanthikumar told the Business Times that they expect a drop in revenue for this year to be around 80 per cent lower than last year and over 90 per cent for the last few months since not a single tourist was around.

Opening up of the hotels would ensure that they would be able to build up on about 20 per cent of their cashflow, he noted.

Meanwhile they have started to receive a number of inquiries regarding opening of hotels, he said.

He noted that they have been granted clearance to operate the restaurant, banqueting and bar following the guidelines recommended by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) while maintaining health rules on social distance and wearing the face mask, checking temperature at entrance, foot bath and sanitisation.

A distance of 1.5 metres has been asked to be maintained and capacity for each function room should be depending on the size of the room, it was noted.

Hoteliers are taking additional precautions as well as staff arriving from remote villages have been sent on voluntary quarantine, he noted.

Mr. Shanthikumar commended the government’s ability to manage the coronavirus well in the country.