SLAITO along with ASMET & SLAPCEO held a press conference at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce to once again opposing the uncompetitive practice of the Minimum Room Rates and the destructive effect it has had and will have on the tourism industry.
Here are a few key snippets -
SLAITO President Nishad Wijetunga- “The authorities told us MRR will come to an end in March. However, there is no indication on that as yet. Supply and demand coupled with quality of offering should determine market rates. Controlling prices in the tourism trade is not something any Government should be doing. Minimum Room Rates have not served their purpose, as we can responsibly state that many of the rooms that were sold this season were with booking that were already in place. It would be interesting to note how many rooms sold in Colombo were genuinely sold at the minimum rate, as they have presented no facts in their representation,”.
SLAITO Vice President Nalin Jayasundera - “We are killing the market for the future with MRR. Some of these hoteliers think we are against price increase. We are not but as long as it is based on demand and supply. If you look at the hoteliers who have commented in this article, they don’t control a big inventory. They only form about 30% of rooms in the city. The big names have not commented. Sri Lanka is not operating in isolation, we are competing with the Middle East and the rest of Asia, and we are outpricing ourselves. This will kill the industry. Every operator has a perception about the destination, and they think of price. Tour operators say you have lost the business to X country because of your minimum rate. If we continue to control prices, they will not look at us favourably.”
SLAITO opposes the Minimum Room Rate and will continue to fight against it for the betterment of the tourism industry as a whole.
For the full report of the press conference - https://www.ft.lk/front-page/Tour-MICE-operators-cry-foul-of-demand-to-extend-minimum-room-rates/44-760236