TV Times

TV Times

Tourism sector needed be ‘ born again’
By Santhush Fernando
Tourism industry top dogs at their Annual General Meeting held last week, iterated that the tourism sector needed be "born again" to make Sri Lanka "the most sought after destination" in the world.

The AGM of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) and Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators Association (SLITA) was held at the Hotel Trans Asia, where Hiran Cooray was newly elected as President of THASL and the incumbent President of SLITA, Wasantha Leelananda was reappointed.

Despite the low occupancy and the devastating tsunami disaster which left the tourism sector devastated, Sri Lanka with its passion for hospitality was determined to forge ahead, Hiran Cooray speaking at the occasion said.
Addressing the gathering Wasantha Leelananda said that although Sri Lanka started on a very promising note after the worlds worst natural disaster hit the island, the tourism industry has found it self at crossroads.

‘But however it was not an impossible dream to put Sri Lanka back on track if it carries out an aggressive promotion campaign to portray its vibrant tourism industry and all stakeholders work with a "can do, must do" attitude’ Mr. Leelananda said.

Deputy Minister of Tourism Faizer Mustapha delivering his address assured the gathering that the full scale war which hampered the tourism industry for two decades will not return.

‘However if Sri Lanka wishes to achieve the target of one million tourists by year 2010 the falling of standard of the industry needed to be arrested and remedied’ the Deputy Minister said.

The Deputy Minister cited that although out of 458 tourist resorts and hotels hit by the December tsunami, only 110 were licensed. Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board Udaya Nanayakkara said that contrary to the common perception of the tourism entrepreneurs the tourist arrivals which was 254,000 for the this year, showed dramatic increase of 13 per cent when compared with the same period, last year which was 225,000.

He said that if the industry was to gear itself for the target of one million tourists 11,000 new star class rooms would have to be added. Further more the industry needed to increase in quality as well as quantity ifit was to achieve the targeted income per tourist per day which was 155 US Dollars.

Mr Nanayakkara noted that the Government had been preparing it self for the target with the acquisition of land for the building of new hotels, where local as well as foreign investors were invited to partake hand in hand.

For this purpose, 4,000 acres will be acquired from Kalpitiya while another 860 acres will be acquired from Panama. 500 acres will be acquired to be added to the Kandy tourist zone, while another 40 and 80 acres respectively will be added to adorn the existing Nuwara Eliya and Kandy areas.

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