Live discussion on the impact of Covid-19 on SL tourism

Hosted on Zoom in April 2020, this discussion assembled the leadership of Sri Lanka’s tourism value chain to confront a sector staring down its second major shock in barely a year, coming just twelve months after the Easter Sunday attacks had already devastated arrivals. The panel brought together Kimarli Fernando, Chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism, Vipula Gunatilleka, CEO of SriLankan Airlines, Sanath Ukwatte, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Hotel Association, and Mahen Kariyawasam, President of the Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators association, moderated by Advocata Chairman Murtaza Jafferjee. With the World Travel and Tourism Council estimating a global loss of up to 50 million jobs and a 25% drop in travel for the year, and Asia forecast to be hit hardest, the panel confronted the immediate operational reality: airlines grounded, hotels empty, and inbound operators with zero bookings for the foreseeable future. The main highlight was Ukwatte’s pragmatic, battle-tested tone as the industry’s most senior hotelier — noting that Sri Lankan tourism had weathered severe shocks before and somehow recovered, that government and bank debt moratoriums were already providing some breathing room, and that despite the immediate devastation there were tentative forward bookings for the following year, offering a note of resilience amid what was otherwise a bleak, uncertain outlook for a sector that is one of Sri Lanka’s largest sources of foreign exchange.