Transport plays a dominant role in the tourism industry but according to the newly formed Rent-a-car Association (RACA) the authorities don’t appear to pay too much attention to this vital aspect of tourism industry.

President of the newly-formed RACA, Kishan D Perera told The Sunday Times FT that there is some kind of negligence in tourist transportation by the authorities. He said that there are many who travel to Sri Lanka, holding valid driving licences from their countries of origin who would like to use self-drive vehicles from the airport to Colombo, specially the regular business executives.

He said that unlike in most other countries, in Sri Lanka visitors from other countries who wish to drive themselves have to follow a cumbersome procedure as they would have to first travel to Werahera and obtain a competence certificate, after paying a fee. Mr Perera said that as in other countries, all those visitors who hold international driving licences and any driving licence in English should be allowed to use self-drive vehicles from the airport itself and necessary arrangements should be in place in the airport to provide this facility. Non-availability of this facility and the long delays in obtaining comfortable transport to the metropolis discourages individuals to travel to Sri Lanka.

He also emphasized the non-availability of overnight parking facilities in the airport premises. The non-availability may be due to security reasons, but an overnight parking facility should be in place, if the full potential of tourism is to be obtained.

He said that once tourism makes considerable progress, they as an Association, would launch a strong lobby to have these facilities in place. They are even prepared to purchase a suitable land in close proximity to the airport to have this essential parking facility, but at present are precluded in doing so in the absence of high tourist inflows and due to the prohibitive cost involved.

A briefing was held recently in Colombo to apprise the media on the purpose of setting up of RACA. The purpose of the RACA is to offer quality service to the public and fleet management packages for the corporate and public sector and to provide personalized transport facilities for any event or occasion in the country.

The Association will also safeguard the interests of the industry and its members and do everything to promote ethical standards and achieve excellence in the service output offered to the public.
RACA also intend to have close relations with the police and transport authorities and seek appropriate safeguards to prevent crimes using the rent-a-car facility. They will establish ties or affiliate with their international counterparts, to further the objectives of the Association. .