I must preface this with the disclaimer that I lived in Sri Lanka as an expat & have been back 5x since, so I know & love the country well. Unfortunately however my last visit in Jan 24 has left a lot to be desired. The country is still as beautiful as ever, with great opportunities to see & experience an amazing country but the rampant corruption of the previous Rajapaksa government has seriously taken its toll on the country If you add in the $billions that were donated to SL post the Tsunami that were also redirected to certain Swiss bank accounts & you start getting a clearer picture of the complete lack of internal investment in the country. I took a family of 6 with me & it was only because I knew people that I was able to get decent pricing on accomodation & meals, but outside of who I knew I found the pricing to be horrendously expensive compared to just 5 years ago. The economic crisis hasn’t helped and as such anything that is imported (think basics like flour) is ridiculously expensive which has the knock on effect of increasing pricing everywhere, as a guess I’d say it’s about 6x more expensive than 5 years ago. This results in other problems as everyone is so desperate for money that they constantly put their hands out for little to no effort & try & charge stupid prices for activities & extras. As an example we were quoted USD $130 for a 1 hour snorkeling session which included a 5 min return boat ride, I did the same trip 5 years ago for USD $25! Unfortunately there are so many gullible tourists (especially the Russians) who simply hand over the cash without realising the long term consequences. I’m all for the Lankans making a $ & have spent $000’s myself but rip-off’s like this leave a very bad taste in the mouth, esp as after a little research I was able to get the same trip for $50. However the worst part & it really pains me to say this, is the complete lack of accountability & customer service. Other than at our hotel (as I know the owner) EVERY restaurant we went to, which included numerous international 5 star establishments, had the worst level of service I’ve probably ever experienced. Meals took ages to arrive (30 mins plus for a simple sandwich or salad) orders were often wrong & worse was they NEVER came together, so at least one of us had finished whilst another hadn’t even received their meal. These were not difficult meals to cater for & were often the same order, but not once did we receive our meal’s together & every time I politely enquired & requested they asssit I was met with a shrug of the shoulders & a look of ‘so what’. To be honest this more than anything ruined what should have been a great holiday, I will not be going back in a hurry as there are far better places for me to take the family, which don’t result in anywhere near the same number of headaches. Sorry Sri Lanka you’ve badly let me down!
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