Inbound tourism transport sector struggles to survive
Sri Lanka’s inbound tourism transport sector is on the verge of collapse in the midst of a depleting vehicle fleet and the neglect of sustainable practices in the tourist transport service, industry officials warned.
They blamed the Tourism Ministry and Treasury authorities for not making any attempt to strengthen the tourist transport service by providing incentives for service providers enabling them to increase the vehicle fleet and by introducing green environmentally-friendly cars and vans to attract travellers while protecting the environment.
The need to increase the tourist transport vehicle fleet has been brought to the notice of Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera in a letter submitted by the Chauffeur Tourist Guide Lecturers’ Association of Sri Lanka (CTGLA) recently, Ranjith Sudasinghe, Vice President of the Association said.
He told the Business Times the association has urged the Finance Minister to give them concessionary relief to import economical and environmentally-friendly passenger cars and vans for tourist transport, under the strict guidance of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Tourism.
This request was endorsed by the Tourism Development Authority but no action has been taken as yet, he said.
The association has also urged the Finance Minister to grant them even a loan facility under the Enterprise Sri Lanka programme similar to the loan given to school van operators up to Rs.4 million to buy a vehicle at the concessionary rate of interest of 3.38 per cent, Mr. Sudasinghe disclosed.
“Our association is a body of professionals trained and licensed by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and has been functioning for over two decades,” he said, adding that a vast majority of their members engage in providing their vehicles along with guide services to foreign tourists visiting the country.
The total investment by the chauffeur guides in providing these facilities had been nearly Rs.3 billion, he revealed.
He added that it is the chauffeur tourist guides who account for the airport pick-up, inland transport and eventually airport drop of over 80 per cent of the tourists who visit Sri Lanka.