Govt. introduces special fuel app for tourists

The government has introduced a special fuel app for visiting foreign tourists. 

The app can be downloaded at the airport, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Vijitha Herath said. If tourists are hiring a vehicle during their stay, the app allows them to pump fuel at 30 designated Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) fuel stations all over the country to correspond with the amount of fuel they have consumed. 

The special fuel app for tourists is different from the QR system introduced for general fuel distribution. 
The app shows the mileage of the vehicle as it was at the start of the journey and the mileage when the vehicle reaches the fuel station, as well as the amount of fuel consumed during the journey. If for example, a tourist travels from Colombo to Trincomalee, they can go to the designated CPC fuel station in Trincomalee mentioned in the app and purchase the amount of fuel that their vehicle had consumed to get from Colombo to Trincomalee, the minister explained. 

The app has been introduced as part of tourism promotion for tourists, mainly from India, the Middle East, Russia, China and Europe. “What we are aiming to do is to ensure that tourists can travel seamlessly throughout the country and enjoy their stay without having to worry about changing their itinerary owing to concerns regarding fuel,” said Minister Herath. 

Meanwhile, the government has also taken steps to assist tourist hotels to obtain diesel to power their generators to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity, the minister added. Accordingly hotels that have generators will be able to obtain diesel for these generators with special permission from their respective Divisional Secretariats.