Travel to Sri Lanka and the economic downturn

HI All

Having never been to SL I have no idea of the cost of being a tourist , Will the drop in the $$ which i believe the Sir Lankan Rupee is linked to make a huge difference to the cost . it%26#39;s obvious that things will be proportionately more expensive but by how much . EG does a pint go up from 拢1 to 拢2 or is it more the case of going up from 拢1 to 拢1.20. I%26#39;m off is late June and would like to budget accordingly . hopefully by then who knowes

Thanks Paul

Travel to Sri Lanka and the economic downturn

Hi Paul,

Indeed upto some extent the Rupee is linked to the dollar. But for the last 6 months they %26#39;played around%26#39; with it (the LK govt. that is) and hence, with USD to euro more or less stable, it went from 165 to the euro to 135 to the euro which means basically it went UP against the dollar! So a downfall by 10-20% is expected within the next 3-4 months, the foreign reserves of the Island have deminished dangerously partly due to this playing.

But, coming back to the original question: even if the rate against the dollar remains stable, the price as seen from the pound is only growing in the range of 20-30%. So yes, from 1 quid to 1.20 quid or the like.

Hope this helps a bit, real Brits will be capable of being more precise as due to my position I%26#39;m allways thinking Euro-centric.

All the best,

%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya]

Travel to Sri Lanka and the economic downturn

Hi Paul

Yes, the short answer is YES, it will cost more to visit Sri Lanka than it did just a few months ago, around 25% more in 拢s for your spending money.

In August when i was there i was getting 210 Rupees to my 拢s, and then in November/ December my 拢s were only getting me between 160 and 165 Rupees, so a big drop there.

Of course your package, assuming you have already booked and paid a deposit won%26#39;t cost you any more, unless there is another big drop in the 拢s value, and tour company invoke thier ';hidden'; rules and increase thier costs.

The BIG losers right now are the hotels/travel companies in Sri Lanka, UK companies that agreed thier contracts in 拢s with them, will of course pay them in 拢s, but of course the hotels will collect much fewer Rupees for those 拢s !, a good example of this was my last trip, i agreed a room rate in 拢s before i left, having booked direct with the hotels, then the exchange rate dropped, so who lost out, yes of course the hotels did, i ended up paying a little less in Rupee terms thatn the ';local'; rate was, i suspect they won%26#39;t be billing me in 拢s next time around.

Regards

Dave

HI Dave thanks for that . I booked with Kuoni and so far no surcharges I do say yet !!! Dave whats the average cost of a meal out there . typical three course and a few drinks type night out .Someone recommended the waterside (Bentota) for shellfish ,The Package I booked is all inclusive so really as you say the only people loosing out will be the Hotel%26#39;s and i suppose the locals if we stay in the hotel .the plan was to book AI and just use it during the day I suppose we could spend more time in the hotel but that was not the idea , I cant see the point of traveling that far and not getting to see at least some of the country . but as you say cost has gone up by 25% it really depends on what the cost was in the first place .to how much difference it makes to the holiday .

regards Paul

Thanks Erik

If the SL goverment carries on that way the SL rupee will devalue against a basket of currenceys not just the $ 拢 e . and they cant afford to keep propping it up against the euro and the doller even if the rate stays stable . the GDP of SL is not enough to allow this long term . this is from what i can see on the out side so probley very wrong .

Agree with the current %26#39;playing%26#39; risks. The exporters (not only tourism) are complaining that in the overvaluating they can%26#39;t compete anymore in the world market. Importers of course are glad and so is the general public as this restricts the local (still absurd) inflation a bit, but indeed they simply cannot continue this indefinetely...

On cost outside the hotel:

%26gt;whats the average cost of a meal out there . %26gt;typical three course and a few drinks type night out

As long as you stick to local drinks, you should be able to manage below Rs 1,500 per person. Only very luxury restaurants would go above that.

All the best,

%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya]