President instructs appointment of committee to look into tourism relief schemes

President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed the appointment of a four-member committee to implement the government's relief measures for the tourism industry.

The committee would comprise two officers each from the Finance and Tourism Ministries, the President’s Office said in a statement.

These instructions had been issued during a meeting held with the stakeholders of the tourism and finance ministries at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (Aug 29).

During the meeting, President Sirisena had pointed out that the relief schemes planned out by the government to uplift the tourism industry which had been badly hit since the Easter Sunday attacks have not been implemented properly.

Among these programmes included a means to temporarily relieve hotels from paying interest over loans, and the issuance of soft loans at reduced interest rates for hoteliers.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Tourism Minister John Amaratunga, and officials from the Tourism Board were among the officials who attended the meeting.