Guidelines by Army to be issued to all hotels

A security briefing to all the Colombo city hotels and some suburban hoteliers had been held yesterday, the Chairman of both Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), Kishu Gomes said.

Mr. Gomes said they got Army experts to brief the hotels as to what measures the government has so far taken and also to tell them what measures will be taken in the future.

“The hotel staff were also educated how they should make powerful observations in order to be able to read suspicious movements. A lot of technical details were shared with them. This morning (23) we are going to issue a paper with guidelines and advices to all the hotels around the country and also to other places where there is tourism related businesses,,” he said.

Mr. Gomes said two of the three hotels which came under terror attacks were closed.

“The Kingsbury and Shangri-La are closed. Kingsbury on Sunday announced that they will be closed for one week and Shangri-La yesterday closed down until further notice. Cinnamon Grand is in operation and they continue to serve the guests who are housed there. They will continue to take prior bookings but will not be entertaining fresh bookings,” he said.

In liaison with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr Gomes said they are taking every effort to help the families of the deceased, to disseminate information and any other assistance they need.

According to him 40 foreigners have been killed in terror attacks while around 30 are receiving treatment at both private and government hospitals.

“With regard to the injured, we have a plan to give them the best they can get,” he said.

If any tourist needs any further assistance, he requested them to contact the Tourism Ministry Hotline at 1912. (Lahiru Pothmulla)