Colombo: Small tourism businesses in Sri Lanka are unsure how to survive after Cyclone Ditwah wreaked havoc across the country during the peak tourist season. The 37-year-old owner of a three-bedroom homestay was forced to evacuate to a shelter after his hillside property, which earned him at least $30 a night - enough to feed his family - was damaged by a cyclone last week, forcing him to cancel all bookings for December and January. He is reeling from the situation and doesn't know when he will be able to return to normal life.
According to Thai News Agency, tourism is Sri Lanka's third-largest contributor to foreign exchange, after remittances from expatriates and garment exports, and accounts for 4 percent of gross domestic product. It has helped Sri Lanka recover from an economic crisis that peaked in 2022, but Cyclone Ditwah's devastation has affected nearly one in ten of its 22 million people, leaving 486 people dead and hundreds missing. It has also damaged infrastructure, including roads, electricity and communication networks, and flooded vast areas of farmland.
Prior to the cyclone, Sri Lanka had already received more than 2 million tourists from the beginning of the year until mid-November. The government is targeting 2.6 million by the end of the year, the highest number since the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of tourists are from India, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.