Hotel reservations by tourists in Sri Lanka have seen a slight decline this month, potentially due to the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah in November, despite minimal damage to hotel properties, according to Krishan Balendra, Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
“For tourism, I feel that in January, there would have been a 5% to 10% impact on booking,” Balendra stated during an economic forum organized by Asia Securities on Wednesday, the 28th.
In late 2025, Cyclone Ditwah delivered a significant, though localized, impact on Sri Lanka’s tourism sector, coinciding with the beginning of the peak travel season. “In tourism, there were two aspects: the impact on bookings and infrastructure damage,” Balendra explained.
The Tourist Hotels Association gathered data from member companies, revealing that the total damage amounted to approximately 500 million rupees, a figure considered not materially significant.
The cyclone caused infrastructure damage in the central highlands, leading to the temporary closure of iconic UNESCO World Heritage sites like Horton Plains and resulting in an estimated 18-month disruption to the world-famous Kandy-Ella railway line.
While nature-based tourism in the hill country bore the brunt of the storm, major coastal hubs and the Cultural Triangle remained largely operational.
Despite an estimated 4.1 billion dollars in total national damage, the tourism industry has demonstrated resilience, with the sector recording a 9.7 percent growth in arrivals in early 2026 compared to the previous year.
(Colombo/Jan29/2026)
