Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 9.5-pct in July

Aug 27, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals rose 9.5 percent to 98,944 in July 2013 from a year earlier, helped by India, Germany and China, data from the state tourism promotion office said.

In the seven months to July visitors were up 12.5 percent to 611,222.

South Asian arrivals rose 24.6 percent to 20,974 with Indian visitors surging 30 percent to 15,032, bucking weak trend so far this year. Up to July visitors from India were up only 2.2 percent to 99,013.

Visitors from Western Europe rose 10.5 percent to 45,930 with arrivals from Germany up 40 percent to 8,203. Britain Sri Lanka's second largest generating market after India¬ send 14,005 visitors up 2.7 percent.

Arrivals from France were up 5.7 percent to 6,541, from Netherlands up 5.8 percent to 4,192 and from Switzerland up 8.3 percent to 3,194.

Visitors from the Middle East were down 49.9 percent to 2,751. In the six months to July Middle Eastern visitors were down 7.9 percent. Middle East has seen unrest and Sri Lankan nationalists had also been targeting the Muslim minority in recent months.

Visitors from East Asia were up 17.6 percent in July to 12,507, with China up 84 percent to 3,626.

Visitors from Japan were up 1.5 percent to 2,402. Tourists from Malaysia fell 17 percent to 1,362 and visitors from Singapore were down.
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lanka-tourist-arrivals-up-9.5-pct-in-july/1196474433

where are these guys staying  

Lucy akka's and Gune aiya home joints?

UKboy wrote:where are these guys staying   

I have some friends and relations abroad. When they come to SL they ask me to check for places to stay. In Colombo there are lot of luxury apartments now. 6 people can stay at Crescat residencies at $135 a night (3 queen size bedrooms) and I negotiated $130 a night for 7 days for 7 people. The location is convenient with access to most 5 star hotel restaurants etc. The flexibility is there for short stay. Even if you look now on agoda or booking.com, at a star hotel it will be minimum of $150 for 2 people to stay after about 25% taxes.  

The thing is there are some local websites that market these apartments or houses and foreign websites have also listed these as condos available for rent etc. Therefore info is available for foreigners.    

Even outside Colombo in places like Hikkaduwa has 4-5 bedroom luxury Villas for about $300 a night. You can contact and negotiate as well. I see that Colombo is cheaper to rent for luxury category. In Hiikaduwa couple of months ago I saw mostly European and Russian tourists staying at houses or motels which would cost between Rs5000 to Rs8000 a night for 2 people. They are mostly backpackers so cant expect them to stay at good hotels.    

So you see there is lot of cost savings here and some people who stayed at hotels those days do not now. However I dont see this as a drastic drop for hotels.  

Cinnamon hotels and now Kingsbury are frequented by the rich of Colombo for dinning and private parties. So these hotels have a good chance to do well than others because of the true class they have. Further some city hotels will be closed for refurbishment. One wing of Galle face hotel is closed and Hilton will be closed for a year or so for refurbishment after CHOGM. Hilton badly needs a refurbishment. I heard either Galadari or Taj will be closed for refurbishment as well.

balapas wrote:I have some friends and relations abroad. When they come to SL they ask me to check for places to stay. In Colombo there are lot of luxury apartments now. 6 people can stay at Crescat residencies at $135 a night (3 queen size bedrooms) and I negotiated $130 a night for 7 days for 7 people. The location is convenient with access to most 5 star hotel restaurants etc. The flexibility is there for short stay. Even if you look now on agoda or booking.com, at a star hotel it will be minimum of $150 for 2 people to stay after about 25% taxes.  

The thing is there are some local websites that market these apartments or houses and foreign websites have also listed these as condos available for rent etc. Therefore info is available for foreigners.    

Even outside Colombo in places like Hikkaduwa has 4-5 bedroom luxury Villas for about $300 a night. You can contact and negotiate as well. I see that Colombo is cheaper to rent for luxury category. In Hiikaduwa couple of months ago I saw mostly European and Russian tourists staying at houses or motels which would cost between Rs5000 to Rs8000 a night for 2 people. They are mostly backpackers so cant expect them to stay at good hotels.    

So you see there is lot of cost savings here and some people who stayed at hotels those days do not now. However I dont see this as a drastic drop for hotels.  

Cinnamon hotels and now Kingsbury are frequented by the rich of Colombo for dinning and private parties. So these hotels have a good chance to do well than others because of the true class they have. Further some city hotels will be closed for refurbishment. One wing of Galle face hotel is closed and Hilton will be closed for a year or so for refurbishment after CHOGM. Hilton badly needs a refurbishment. I heard either Galadari or Taj will be closed for refurbishment as well.

Suddanwa huran kanawane...

balapas wrote:I have some friends and relations abroad. When they come to SL they ask me to check for places to stay. In Colombo there are lot of luxury apartments now. 6 people can stay at Crescat residencies at $135 a night (3 queen size bedrooms) and I negotiated $130 a night for 7 days for 7 people. The location is convenient with access to most 5 star hotel restaurants etc. The flexibility is there for short stay. Even if you look now on agoda or booking.com, at a star hotel it will be minimum of $150 for 2 people to stay after about 25% taxes.  

The thing is there are some local websites that market these apartments or houses and foreign websites have also listed these as condos available for rent etc. Therefore info is available for foreigners.    

Even outside Colombo in places like Hikkaduwa has 4-5 bedroom luxury Villas for about $300 a night. You can contact and negotiate as well. I see that Colombo is cheaper to rent for luxury category. In Hiikaduwa couple of months ago I saw mostly European and Russian tourists staying at houses or motels which would cost between Rs5000 to Rs8000 a night for 2 people. They are mostly backpackers so cant expect them to stay at good hotels.    

So you see there is lot of cost savings here and some people who stayed at hotels those days do not now. However I dont see this as a drastic drop for hotels.  

Cinnamon hotels and now Kingsbury are frequented by the rich of Colombo for dinning and private parties. So these hotels have a good chance to do well than others because of the true class they have. Further some city hotels will be closed for refurbishment. One wing of Galle face hotel is closed and Hilton will be closed for a year or so for refurbishment after CHOGM. Hilton badly needs a refurbishment. I heard either Galadari or Taj will be closed for refurbishment as well.

Suddanwa huran kanawane... Bad

slstock wrote:Lucy akka's and Gune aiya home joints?

UKboy wrote:where are these guys staying   

yes thats true...

@ balapas

Good post.

It's a shame that our hoteliers keep moaning about costs.
Cost of staff, food, maintenance is higher in Europe yet room prices are pretty much similar (especially 3, 4 star rooms) to Sri Lanka. Some countries it's much less than in Sri Lanka

interest rates is a con though.