UK warns of economic crisis in Sri Lanka

UK has warned travellers of the grave economic situation in Sri Lanka and shortages of essentials and power outages if they choose to visit the country.

The tourism industry found that they were slapped with a travel advisory over the current economic crisis and shortages of essentials by the UK that could hurt arrival numbers in future.

The UK travel advisory has given a very negative picture and definitely a traveller coming from the UK will think twice when coming here, Sri Lanka Tourist Hotels Association President M. Shanthikumar explained.

The UK travel advisory updated on Monday stated: “The economic situation is deteriorating in Sri Lanka with shortages of basic necessities including medicines, fuel and food because of a shortage of hard currency to pay for imports. There may be long queues at grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies. Local authorities may impose the rationing of electricity, resulting in power outages.”

Other tourism analysts also pointed out that once the UK issues an advisory it is likely that other nations in the European Union are bound to follow.

The tourism industry is a major contributor to foreign currency and that is neglected, Mr. Shanthikumar explained adding that the authorities need to prioritise for tourism. In fact, he noted “everybody should concentrate on tourism right now.”

Meanwhile following on from last week’s meeting with Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse it was noted that though the tourism industry had written to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to exempt the leisure sector from electricity interruptions; this had fallen on deaf ears.