THE series of blasts in Sri
Lanka, which hit churches
and hotels in three major
cities, comes after a surge
in tourism in the country.
Lonely Planet ranked Sri
Lanka as the number-one
country for travel in 2019
and in 2018. Over two
million tourists visited the
island state in 2018, up
11% from the previous year.
Manan Mahajan, md of
Orange DMC, believes that
this incident will not affect
Sri Lankan tourism in the
long run and says Orange
DMC did not received any
cancellations from South
African travellers immediately
or for the coming months.
Lal Jayamaha, md of
Serendipity Travel, says the
company has been getting
cancellations from travellers
booked to Sri Lanka in
the near future but who
have now changed their
destinations.
According to Lal, all
services in the cities are still
operating but a curfew has
been imposed. This curfew
will not affect tourists with
flights around the curfew
hours, who may be asked
to present their travel
documents to police should
they be stopped.
A statement from the
airport requests that
passengers arrive at the
airport at least four hours
before departure. People are
further requested to avoid
accompanying travellers
to the airport as only
passengers will be allowed
in the terminal building
until further notice in order
to facilitate the security
measures.
