Tourism Act to bring Rs. 1b from Cess Fund

Shirajiv Sirimane

The proposed Tourism Act would bring an annual income of nearly Rs. one billion to the industry, the Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism George Michael said.

This money would be collected from the CESS fund, which is being accumulated from a levy from registered hotels and a percentage from the Embarkation tax.

Michael said that the Treasury is annually forwarding around Rs. 450 million to run the activities of the Ministry

 of Tourism and also for its promotional budget.

The average annual earnings to the tourism CESS fund is around Rs. 800 million. "With the increase of arrivals we expect this amount to reach a billion soon," he said.

The Additional Secretary said that the implementation of the Act would not lead to any penalisation of the employees and stressed that it is only a decentralisation in the Sri Lanka Tourist Board administration. "We may need more staff to run our activities," he said.

He also said that the Act was something the private sector was waiting for and it also helps to update some of the laws that needs to adjust to the present times.

Under the new Act, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) (replaces Sri Lanka Tourist Board), Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) (new), Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) (new), Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) (Existing).

The operational date of the Act will be October 1.

Last May saw a 40 per cent drop in arrivals and it recovered to 30 per cent in June and 23 per cent in August. "We expect the industry to totally recover for the winter season and the main reason for this is that there was no adverse publicity for Sri Lanka and the softening of travel advisories," Chairman Sri Lanka Tourist Board, Renton De Alwis said.