Tourism Cess fund under Treasury control
View(s):Alarm bells are ringing in the tourism sector following a proposal to bring the Tourism Cess fund, which has several millions of dollars for promotional purposes, under the Treasury, removed from state tourism agencies.
While officially tourism authorities say they are unaware of the proposal, the plan is expected to be included in the 2019 Budget to be presented in Parliament on November 5, the Business Times reliably understands.
Asked to comment, Tourism Ministry Secretary V. Sivagnanasothy said, “there is no such intimation as yet” regarding the take-over of the Tourism Cess fund.
Tourist Hotels Association President Sanath Ukwatte too said that they had not received any official information in this regard. Other industry sources said they have heard of the proposal which has not being discussed with tourism authorities.
However Treasury officials confirmed that the Tourism Development Levy (Cess) will be absorbed into the Consolidated Fund of the Treasury and used, as before, for tourism promotion. “The money will be released on a case-by-case basis,” one source said
During the previous regime too, the Treasury took over the Tourism Cess fund amidst allegations that it was used for other government spending.
Officials said the take-over proposal was also included in the 2017 and 2018 budgets but not implemented. This time however cabinet approval has been granted for the move.
They said the industry has been allocated additional funding, to the tune of over Rs.3.8 billion for infrastructure development, including the MICE industry, and Rs.500 million to uplift and develop the tourist hotspots in the proposed 2019 budget.