Sri Lanka tourism today (13) responded the claims made by a foreign tourist in his viral video.
The tourist said that he had to cancel touring Sri Lanka just after 5 hours of arriving in the country as there was a partial lockdown and there were no services for tourists, specially, transportation. After canceling the tour in Sri Lanka, he had flew Istanbul, Turkey.
Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga ordered a probe into the incident.
In response Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said that the investigation found that the passenger didn’t make any effort to contact the car rental company on arrival in Sri Lanka.
“In a detailed report from the car rental company, it is stated that the booking for transportation had been made via a third-party website and was in fact for the 6th of October 2021 and not the 7th of October 2021, on which date Mr. George, the tourist, arrived in the country. The inquiry revealed that the car rental company had sent a representative who had spent the day within the airport on 6th October, awaiting the traveller, and had gone back to the base station which is located just 5 minutes from the airport terminal.”
The statement claimed that tourism industry veterans find it strange that a visitor fluent in English, on arrival, did not contact the car rental company, from which he had booked transport which also has a vehicle station within five minutes from the airport terminal, and request for an alternative vehicle or in any other way try to request assistance from within the airport.
The visitor also had the opportunity to speak to any one of the staff of the car rental companies, that have counters that are manned 24 hours, for the convenience of visitors arriving without prearranged transport and who would have gladly assisted him to proceed to his chosen accommodation and location. The irony is this visitor seems to be a seasoned traveller coming from San Francisco via Mexico City, Cancun, Istanbul, and the Maldives to Sri Lanka, it said.
“Nevertheless, Sri Lanka Tourism has taken due note of this complaint and urges industry partners and stakeholders of the importance of keeping their teams refreshed on service standards and work ethic that we must always deliver to, both local and foreign, travellers an experience that is in keeping with their expectations,” the statement said.
