Sri Lanka’s security crisis, in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombing, is not deep rooted, according to "their" reading, Military spokesman Brig. Sumith Atapattu told reporters on Monday.
He assured the tourism industry that they had deployed 15,000 troops on the ground and that necessary steps were taken to ensure no repeat of a similar attack. The briefing was called by the Tourism Ministry to discuss various issues including security.
Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau chief Kishu Gomes, in his comments, was convinced that tourism will bounce back.
However hoteliers and tour operators believed it would take a long time to recover. Staff leaving the country, travel bans and with one of the largest tour operators refusing to sell Sri Lanka, the future looked bleak from the industry.
Right now the main concern was for the moratorium on the loans that the industry stakeholders would have taken and the waiver on interest on loans.
Tourism industry bodies, THASL and SLAITO insisted they needed more assurance on security and believed at least 13 months was needed to recover from the crisis. (Sunimalee)
The final rites of veteran broadcaster, writer, and lyricist Nirmala de Alwis will be held today at Peradeniya.
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