Sunday Times E-Paper

The hills come alive in spite of travel ban

COVID-19 was a crippling blow to the tourism industry in Nuwara Eliya. As travel restrictions were imposed after a 3rd wave of COVID started spreading through the country, tourism operators in the town, who were mostly reliant on local tourists to get by, suffered even further.

Though the lockdown has now been lifted, inter-provincial travel restrictions remain. As such technically, those outside the Central Province cannot come to Nuwara Eliya to spend their holidays.

These restrictions, however, seem to have had little impact in preventing local tourists from various parts of the island thronging to Nuwara Eliya after spending weeks stuck at home. A senior official at a leading hotel in Nuwara Eliya said many rooms in their hotel were already occupied by local tourists. Despite authorities vowing to “strictly enforce” the inter-provincial travel ban during the long weekend, hoteliers still expect a significant number of local tourists to arrive in Nuwara Eliya during the next few days.

NEWS

en-lk

2021-10-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://sundaytimes.pressreader.com/article/281608128624338

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