The Government is planning amendments to the Tourism Act of 2005 to enable more money to be channelled to development instead of promotion, officials said.
Also being considered is to bring three instutitions – promotion, development and conventions – under one unit while the hotel school will operate separately. Already Dr Nalaka Godahewa, who was newly appointed, is chairman of all three units.
“There is a bigger need to develop the product as against promotion, as more and more hotels are being built,” a tourism official explained, adding: “The focus is on the development of the product and infrastructure and thus we need more money for this.”
With this in mind, Tourism Promotion Managing Director Dileep Mudadeniya has been appointed Add. Director General of the Development Authority, the official said.
Currently the Tourism Act pays more attention to promotion with more funds allocated to this sector than development. |
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