To face global crisis:

Public/private partnerships best alternative -Indian Secy

Hiran H. Senewiratne

Public and private partnerships are the best alternative for any country to face the current global crisis, Secretary, Indian Ministry of Tourism Sujit Banarajee said.

The time is now opportune for all countries to think out of the box to adopt an appropriate economic policy framework for different sectors to face the global crisis.'

He was addressing the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA), International Awards Ceremony.

The theme of the event was Global Financial Meltdown, Its Impact on Tourism and Aviation.

Chairman, Sri Lanka Conventions Bureau Prema Cooray was presented an award for his lifetime contribution to promote Sri Lanka worldwide.

He said that common sense is the best policy without blindly following failed economic theories in the past. Therefore, the global recession which occurred in 1930 was a good lesson for the whole world but unfortunately we did not learn anything from it, he said.

Banarajee said with public and private sector cooperation projects could be launched to move forward the economy at this juncture as this crisis is likely to continue for some time.

He said that IT can be used effectively to bring down the cost factor in every sector, and this will enhance innovation in all sectors.

Banarajee said India has taken many steps to face the current global crisis and placed all our economic fundamentals intact to bring back the resilience of the Indian economy.

The Secretary said the tourist industry is the best employment generation industry for any country and added that the foreign exchange that comes from it goes right down to the lowest level of the economic segment in the country.

All sectors including the tourist industry need to have projects in the pipeline with public and private sector partnerships to face this problem courageously, he said.

Minister of Tourism, Jamaica Edmund Bartlett said that giving value addition to the tourism sector is the best option to face this crisis. Therefore, they charge US$ 10 from every tourist to develop the SME sector to promote the industry. He said that with these new strategies they expect a tremendous growth in the next tourist season.