Viral video by tourist: What he said is misleading and fabricated, SL clarifies

• Tourist says that a taxi service booked via a third-party website was not available once he arrived in Sri Lanka

By Sheain Fernandopulle

Referring to the recent video by a tourist that went viral on social media, the Airport & Aviation Services Sri Lanka said yesterday what was said in the video is misleading and not the real picture at the airport.

Posting a video on social media recently, a tourist from the US has claimed that he was forced to leave the country barely five hours after he had arrived saying the country was under lock-down and offered no services.

He said the public transportation was not available and hotels and restaurants were also not in operation because of the lock-down.

Responding to the claims made by the tourist that he had booked a taxi service via a third-party website and it was not available once he came down to Sri Lanka, Shehan Sumanasekara, Director Chief of Operations (All Airports) and a Board member at Airport & Aviation Services Sri Lanka said they could not take any responsibility on third party services.

“However, if the reservation was not available when he arrived in Sri Lanka, he could have easily got a cab from the airport arrivals lobby, since we have ten travel counters with many taxi services,” he pointed out.
“In addition, if the tourist had not booked a hotel, he could have consulted our tourism counter at the arrival lobby from where he could have booked a hotel,” he added. Sumanasekara said all facilities were available and the relevant video was misleading and fabricated and it is not the real scenario in the country and at the airports. Moreover, he said all the airports in Sri Lanka are fully opened for tourists and they only need a negative PCR test taken 72 hours prior to boarding the aircraft.

When the Daily Mirror contacted Sumanasekara to inquire about the progress of the probe into the incident, he said the final report of the investigation was handed to the State Minister DV Chanaka this morning by the Chairman of the Airport & Aviation Services.

“The content of the probe is that the video was misleading and fabricated and it paints a different picture to the real one,” he added

• The Airport & Aviation Services Sri Lanka said they could not take any |responsibility for third-party services
• The video is misleading and fabricated and it paints a different picture to the actual one