Tourism targets US$ 850 m

Fulfills set predictions for 2011:

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

The country’s tourism industry is confident of reaching US $ 850 million revenue by end of this year. The industry has already reached $ 760m by end November and hopeful to end the year by reaching the US$ 850 mark.

“We have achieved targets set for the year and are expecting to record US $ 850 million revenue by end of 2011. The tourism sector has set an ambitious target to become a billion dollar industry by end of next year, Sri Lanka Tourist Hotels’ Association President Anura Lokuhetty said.

The country has received 819,500 tourists by December 23 and will be looking at 850,000 tourist arrivals to end the year.

The industry has provided over 140,000 job opportunities at present and it is expected to generate 500,000 indirect and direct employment by 2016, thus making 10 percent of the population dependent of tourism, he said.

The aspect of safety and protection of tourism will be given prominence and Sri Lanka will project itself as a safe and preferred destination despite the unfortunate incident that involved the killing of a British national.

“These types of incidents should never have happened as it will be detrimental for the hard work that has been done over the years,” he said.

“Tourists have not curtailed their stay or left the country due to this incident and we have taken measures to ensure that it will be prevented in the future and the industry is shaping to become the key sector of economy. We have not received any complaints from travel agents or no bookings have been cancelled due to the Tangalle incident,” Lokuhetty said.

There will be community centres set up in key tourist areas to facilitate cordial interaction and to ensure tourism benefits to trickle down to village level. These centres will also be used as display centres to sell products of cottage industries.

Commenting on the incident in Tangalle, Deputy Economic Development Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardane said the government is in the process of inviting the relatives of the Russian female victim to Lanka.

“Eight Police teams and special teams from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority have been deployed to conduct a full scale inquiry into the incident,” he said.

“There is no cover up of the incident.”

Action is also being taken to register all unregistered tourist hotels in the country which will help for better monitoring and streamlining of their operations.