Sri Lanka Trip = Post #3 (21 to 23 Dec 2008)

Continuing from post #2,

Tourism
Tourism is one of Sri Lanka's major income earners industry with 300,000 people directly or indirectly involved in the trade. December is usually the busiest season with package tourists from European countries especially Germany, France and the Scandinavian countries. However global economic turmoil turned recession has dealt a devastating blow to the industry. Hotels that are normall fully booked are empty with the hoteliers counting on local tourists to fill their rooms (Dec is the school holiday in Sri Lanka). Not all of supply can be met by local tourism:-

• The company that I booked my tour had laid off 10 out of 13 drivers. My driver returned to his village to farm his relative's rice fields since April 2008. In December he was called back to drive me around for one week
  .
• The tour guide who showed me around Sirigaya rock said now has 3 to 4 tourists (foreigners) per week. In previous years, in a typical day there were 30 to 40 buses (1500 foreign tourists) arriving at Sirigaya per week. The situation has become so dire that the 120 licensed guides now to take turns to provide their services. Since working as a tour guide at Sirigaya 10 years ago, this year was the worst in terms of the number of foreign tourists.
• Last week it was reported that hoteliers at Hikkaduwa, a seaside area popular with package tourists appealed to the government to give them loans due to poor business.

Getting a supply of petrol has become a serious problem in Sri Lanka since last week. Three people sued the goverrment to reduce the petrol price. The supreme court ordered the goverment to reduce the petrol price from RP 12o (USD 1.1 = RM 4.00/litre) to RP 100 per litre (USD 0.9 = RM 3.3o/litre). Of of two companies, one company run by a joint venture between Indian Oil Corporation and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation agreed to comply and dropped their petrol prices to RP 100/litre immediately. A second company owned by the government did not and was waiting for goverment orders. The outcome was predictable with everyone going to the first company to fill up their tanks. There is now an artificial shortage of petrol in Sri Lanka. In the mean time, the government postponed the decision on whether to comply to the court decision or not. They have indicated their reluctance to reduce the price due to the need to fund the ongoing war with the Tamil Tigers and a potential hedging loss at USD 130 per barrel. Comparison of current petrol prices :-

• USA (USD 0.35 per litre)
  
  
• Malaysia (USD 0.50 per litre)
  
  
• Vietnam (USD 0.70 per litre)
  
  
• Sri Lanka (USD 1.10 per litre)
  

It looks like government profiteering to me.