There are miraculous things happening in the long-suffering tourism sector. According to the latest data released by the tourism authorities, arrivals in August were up sharply by 34% to reach 41,207, compared to 30,672 arrivals in the same period last year. All well and good, since the tourism sector suffered heavily during the three decades of war and heaved the biggest sigh when it finally came to an end in May. Arrival figures have been going up steadily ever since.


In such a scenario, one would expect the industry stakeholders to be all smiles, right? Wrong. Not everyone is smiling these days, and that has a lot to do with the new Tourism Minister, Nandana Gunathilake.


Gunathilake, it seems, has begun a laborious process of re-inventing the wheel at the Tourism Ministry. While it is all systems go for the tourism industry, it is all systems stop at Gunathilake’s new-found toy, the Tourism Ministry.


A virtual blanket order has gone out to stop everything that had been initiated by the previous minister, and Gunathilake is involved in a rather curious version of stocktaking.


It all began with the not-so-small Small Miracle campaign. The Chief Executive got the show going by expressing his displeasure with the wording of the tourism promotion slogan. This gave Gunathilake the excuse he needed to do what now seems to be his favourite pastime – stopping things. So the advertising campaign that cost millions to put together was stopped in its tracks only a few months after its launch.


With that done, the obviously satisfied former rebel-turned-JVP-politician-turned-NFF-turncoat turned his attention to the bigwigs that came under his writ. And so, from the amiable chairman of the Convention Bureau, former Aitken Spence Chairman Prema Cooray, to the  Chairman of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, to many others, it has been somewhat of a perahera.


We now hear that all tenders that had been called by the Tourism Authority over the last few months have now been put on hold, pending the ministerial green light. Even some refurbishment work that was ongoing has been put on hold for the same reason.


Last week, one wag commented that, with his JVP background, anything green – including the green light – is anathema to the new Minister. On the other hand, he is quite at home with all things red, especially the red-light.


Tourism Authority insiders claim that, as a matter of courtesy, all heads offered their resignations to the new Minister when he assumed office, so as to enable the Minister to appoint his own team, including to the Tourism Advisory Committee and Steering Committee. This is considered basic courtesy, and the heads are usually allowed to finish work in progress. But this time around, as the tourism sector learnt the hard way, it was different. The industry literally saw red.


To the credit of the former minister, there was consensus among industry stakeholders that the right people were in the right places at the right time – a rare occurrence in this land of miracles.


Today, many in the industry are on edge. The hard-earned gains made through intense promotional campaigns cannot be compromised at the threshold of the peak winter season, for which late bookings come in around this time.


So while the Minister goes on about his work, canceling this and canceling that, the clock for promotional work for the peak season is ticking away, with key posts in the tourism sector now empty.


“There will definitely be an impact,” said a concerned stakeholder, who did not wish to be named. “All this is being done at the wrong time. For a change, we had industry professionals in the right places. I do not know who the replacements will be.”


“This is a delicate area,” echoed another, who feared that his organization would be attacked should his name be revealed. “Not everyone can handle this. Our only hope is that capable people with the right attitude are put in the right places.”


“The promotions must go on,” said another stakeholder. “There are no two ways about it: stopping them at this juncture would be suicidal for the industry, and would do no good except boost individual egos at great cost to the country.


“We in the industry have observed what has been going on and we have adopted a new strategy.” And what might that be, we ask? “The strategy is to remain silent.”