NEGOMBO, 23 October 2007 (IRIN) - The drop in Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals, mainly because of security concerns, has been precipitous in recent months, leaving thousands of people on part-time pay or jobless.

Between March and June 2007, tourist arrival rates fell by more than 30 percent each month. There was a slight improvement in August, the latest month for which figures are recorded - a 15 percent decline.

Tourist arrivals have been in steady decline since early 2006 when renewed violence between government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forces started seeping into southern areas popular with foreigners.

Arrivals fell by 22 percent in August 2007 to 313,000 from 405,000 in August 2006, according to the Sri Lankan Tourist Board.

The latest fall came just as the industry was recovering from the devastating effects of the tsunami in 2004, when it made US$413 million, dropping to $360 million in 2005 and $410 million in 2006.

Daily wage earners and part-time employees are the first to feel the pinch, according to the Tourist Board. They comprised 77,000 of the 133,000 employed in the sector in 2006 and likely support more than 200,000 family members.

"Big hotels can downsize and survive, but small timers like us have to cut corners," Thilak Weerasinghe, who runs Lanka Sports Reisen, said. He operates surfing tours in the eastern Arugambay area in Ampara district, 320km from Colombo, the capital. "People who make a living off the beach earn less and hotels will not employ guides if there are no guests. If this continues then lay-offs will increase," he said.

The overall impact of the fall has not been fully assessed, but the Department of Census and Statistics said the number of jobs in hotels and restaurants fell by 16,000 in the first quarter of this year alone to 95,000 from 111,000 in 2006. Such a drop could affect as many as 70,000-plus family members

The pinch is felt acutely in areas such as Negombo, a beach-fronted tourist haven 35km north of Colombo.

"Since last year it has been like a yo-yo, with business going up and down," Ascari Senevirathne, who runs a four-bedroom guesthouse on Negombo beach, told IRIN. The last time a foreign tourist stayed was four months ago and he now makes ends meet by renting rooms to local couples at hourly rates. "Otherwise I would have to close it down."

The small kitchen at the guesthouse is already closed and the hired cook was let off months ago. "There is no need for him now," said Senevirathne.

Raj Gopal, who runs a small shop in Negombo selling everything from bottled water to trinkets, cannot depend on local customers alone. They are not interested in his wares. "I don't do 10 percent of the business I was doing a year ago," Gopal told IRIN. "If I made Rs1,000 [US$9] a day before, now it is [more] like Rs45 [50 cents]. Soon I will be forced to go sell vegetables in the market."

He and Senevirathne say part-time workers have drifted away in search of other lower-paying jobs. "Several small hotels have closed here, no one is even thinking of hiring," Gopal said. "Even large hotels are now down-scaling operations … first the tsunami and now war, we are finished."

Airport closure

"The drop in tourist arrivals and earnings is due to the intensification of the conflict, particularly due to the air-raids by the LTTE and [the earlier] closure of the airport at night-time," Colombo-based economist Muttukrishna Sarvananthan told IRIN.

The Tiger air wing attacked the country's only international airport outside Colombo in March and carried out another attack over the capital in April. The airport was temporarily closed to international flights at night but has since resumed normal operations. Two recent Tamil Tiger attacks - one a ground assault on an army detachment inside Yala wildlife park, on the southeast of the island, the other an air attack on an air-base in central Anuradhapura, famous for its Buddhist ruins, 200km from Colombo - are likely to send new jitters through the tourist industry.

Authorities overseeing the industry believe adverse travel advisories prompted by attacks in urban areas seriously undermine tourism. "Early this year there were several travel advisories issued on Sri Lanka in the vital European markets," additional secretary to the Ministry of Tourism George Michael said. "They did have a serious impact." France, Germany and the UK were among the countries that issued warnings against travel to Sri Lanka.

Michael expressed confidence that the advisories were being gradually relaxed. However, the US government has recently issued a warning of the possibility of renewed attacks on government, economic and military targets.

Those like Senevirathne feel that as long as such attacks continue, so will the downturn in the tourist trade. "However much we try to reason with them [the foreign tourists], if they are nervous, they never come … no-one wants to get killed on holiday, right?"

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