Singers Britney Spears, Paul McCartney, Sting and Paul Simon have all traveled to Sri Lanka for a big-bucks taste of tropical luxury.
But an escalating war with Tamil Tiger rebels and increasingly gruesome headlines on the human- rights situation means that the rich are now staying away -- and rooms in the island's boutique hotels are going for a song.
"They [tourists] have known for years that terrorism here is centered around military targets," said Gehan Wijeratne, director of Jetwing Group which runs a chain of 10 hotels, including three properties catering to the deep-pocketed visitor.
PHOTO: AFP
"But travelers don't like lawlessness, where there are extra-judicial killings, abductions. It sends shivers down their spine. Human rights are emerging as a bigger concern, people starting to brand us as a dirty destination," he said.
One example of luxury rooms going cheap is at Jetwing's Vil Uyana, or Water World -- a resort built over a wetland in Sigiriya, 170km north of Colombo.
From the outside, the 25 thatched roof huts built over lush green rice paddy fields are a throw-back to an early civilization, but the interiors are designed to pamper to every whim of the most discerning traveler.
"It's like living in a private nature reserve," British banker Michael Maillou said as he worked on his tan, sipped fresh mango juice and took in a view of lakes and reed beds populated by monkeys and wild elephants.
"This is paradise, to relax among hundreds of birds, butterflies, two crocodiles and get a piece of history," he said waving to the nearby 5th-century Sigiriya rock fortress, a world heritage site.
Near the stunning fortress, once the seat of a playboy king, are frescoes of women and a spread of ruins of the island's ancient royal kingdoms.
And thanks to the grim headlines on Sri Lanka putting off many potential visitors, Maillou can also savor one of the best buys in the tropics -- rather than the usual daily rate of US$400, the picture-postcard eco-lodges are going for US$125.
Famed for its hills of tea plantations, golden beaches, abundance of wildlife and ancient religious sites, the teardrop island of Sri Lanka is now crying out for tourists.
The problem is, as the Tamil Tigers once again step up their fight for an independent ethnic homeland in the north and east, and as government forces respond with equal veracity, the frontline is never far away.
After an all-too brief lull in fighting following a 2002 ceasefire agreement and the 2004 Asian tsunami, the Tigers have attacked in Colombo, the south, the east -- almost everywhere on the tiny island.
The Tigers have even managed to smuggle light aircraft into their northern mini-state, adding air power to their deadly arsenal of suicide bombers and forcing Sri Lanka's sole international airport to shut up shop at night for fear of more nocturnal raids.
Mounting "disappearances" have also been reported, with mutilated bodies turning up on a regular basis.
"Tourists with deep pockets are our mainstay, but we can't attract enough because of the macro situation in the country," Vil Uyana's manager, Tissa Wickramasuriya, said of the fighting.
Hotels as a whole are now reporting only 30 percent to 40 percent occupancy, as even aid workers -- who packed rooms following the tsunami -- are rare because of increasing donor fatigue and the intractable conflict.
Places like Vil Uyana can still manage to pull in the odd guest, but similar boutique resorts are standing empty.
For Geoffrey Dobbs, a British national who worked in Sri Lanka's hospitality industry for 12 years, things have never looked so bleak.
"Things are really bad. We attract the high-end clientele who can have a peaceful holiday in any part of the world," said Dobbs, who runs five small luxury hotels, including a private island in the south.
"I see a lot of bankruptcy," Dobbs said. "Sadly it's going to get worse before it gets better."
At present, hotel industry workers say the luxury sector is struggling to score the 40 percent occupancy rates needed to cover operating costs.
But even that is no longer good enough, as owners of boutique hotels -- including tea plantation mansions and colonial-era homes converted into expensive villas -- need to pay off debts and retain bored staff.
Falling prices also threaten to damage the image of Sri Lanka's luxury resorts, which have been marketed on the premise that the high tariffs at least guarantee the rich -- and possibly very famous -- a bit of peace and quiet.
At the same time, keeping prices too high means no visitors.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS