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Tourist Board ex-chief refuses to quit
A major controversy continues to brew in the local tourism sector with key stake-holders calling for the removal of former Tourist Board chairman Udaya Nanayakkara stating that the post is defunct anyway with the new government in place and the Board to be dissolved very soon with the establishment of the Tourism Development Authority.

Ministry Secretary Dr. P. Ramanujan told The Sunday Times yesterday that the new Authority will come into force in January next year once the Minister ( of Tourism ) signs regulations under the gazette notification that will make the Authority operational. He confirmed that Mr. Nanayakkara continues to attend office but said that he is no longer the Tourist Board Chairman.

Two major tourism associations, the Sri Lanka Hoteliers Association and the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators have ganged up to ask for Mr. Nanayakkara's removal, but it appears that they are asking for the removal of a Chairman whose post is functus in any event. The new Mahinda Rajapakse government has not re-appointed Mr. Nanayakkara nor anyone else for the post of either Tourist Board Chairman or Tourism Authority Chairman.
Mr. Nanayakkara however told The Sunday Times yesterday that the Minister has “in fact told me to function as the Chairman”, and added “I am continuing to function as Chairman. Only a handful of people want me out ".

The Authority was initiated by the Ranil Wickremesinghe government and wasmeant to be driven by the industry rather than by a team of government bureaucrats. It was also empowered to collect a cess fund from the industry which could be used for promotional and marketing activities. The Wickremesinghe government was unable to pass the law because of the dissolution of Parliament in April 2004, but Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike guided its passage through the Legislature in October 2005.

At the root of the problem is the manner in which the cess fund is being managed, industry big-wigs say. In the absence of the Authority coming into operation, the monies collected which amounted to Rs. 1.3 billion (US $ 13 Million) for the calender year 2004, was being spent by the Tourist Board.
The cess fund come from the Airport Tax (Rs. 700 Million), funds collected from tour operators and hotels (Rs. 600 Million).

Critics of Mr. Nanayakkara claim that these funds were being lavishly spent on unproductive overseas fairs, foreign trips for Tourist Board officials, pay hikes for Board staff, and renovation of buildings, the contract of which went to Mr. Nanayakkara's private company . A case in point is Mr. Nanayakkara's mobile bill for last month which reportedly came to Rs. 160,000 of which Rs. 133,000 alone was for international roaming charges.

Meanwhile Dr. Ramanujan said he consulted the Attorney General on the matter of establishing the Tourism Development Authority and added that Mr. Nanayakkara continues to report to work as Chairman of the Tourist Board though he was not entitled to do so. The clarification the Ministry Secretary has obtained from the Attorney General comes in the wake of the new government gazetting the Tourist Board instead of the new Tourism Authority - under the functions and subjects of the Tourism Ministry.

Office-bearers of the two associations have repeatedly requested a meeting with Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike for several weeks now to prevent him from re-appointing Mr. Nanayakkara either to the Tourist Board or the Tourism Authority, or to any position under the new Tourism Authority Law, but no appointment has been granted so far by the Minister.

Senior office-bearers of the Hoteliers Association said that they would now be seeking an appointment with President Mahinda Rajapakse to convey their demand.

Minister Bandaranaike and the former Tourist Board Chairman - an ex- brother-in-law of the Minister - had public spats over the running of the Tourist Board, beginning with the organisation of the Sharukh Khan musical show in Colombo exactly an year ago, but since of late the Minister has opted to adopt a 'hands-off' approach to industry demands to remove Mr. Nanayakkara. One of the major tour operators which is staying out of stiff opposition to Mr. Nanayakkara is the John Keells Group.

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