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by Tharika Goonathilake

The Japanese Government yesterday relaxed its negative travel advisory cautioning Japanese travellers against visiting Sri Lanka.

Under the relaxation, travellers are cautioned not to visit the North-East. Other areas have been declared free for travel, press statements released by the Japanese Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The Sri Lanka Tourist Board and travel industry welcomed the move as a timely and much needed one.

"This is an excellent piece of news following the peace initiative,'' Tourist Board Chairman Renton de Alwis said.

"Japanese Travel Agents and Travel operators are now in a position to sell Sri Lanka as a destination in their package tours. This would mean undeterred business with one of the highest yielding tourism markets," he said.

According to the Chairman, Japanese tourists were the highest spending group in Sri Lanka in 1999. But following a series of incidents, Sri Lanka was classified as an 'unsafe' destination for Japanese tourists as well as Japanese residents living here.

He said that the Tourist Board together with the travel industry and airlines will carry out a major promotion in Japan to stimulate the market.

"We are extremely happy about this initiative since this is one market that once activated, has the potential of generating substantial outbound travel to Sri Lanka," he said.

Several industry sources also said that this was an ideal opportunity for Sri Lanka to market the destination given the diverse attractions the country can offer.

"Japan is a major market and there are over 18 million outbound tourists. Due to the negative travel advisory Sri Lanka did not have an opportunity to tap even one per cent of this market share. But this relaxation can be a new beginning for the travel trade," they said.

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