Licensed drivers enter tourism industry

Certificates and driving licenses were distributed among 250 drivers trained by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) to serve the tourism industry, under the direction of Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa recently.

They belong to the 11th batch trained to meet the transport requirement of the increasing number of tourists arriving in Sri Lanka.

Minister Basil Rajapaksa hands over 13 super luxury buses to the tourism sector

SLTDA has trained around 1,800 drivers from various parts of the country.

The trained drivers are members of the All Ceylon Tourist Drivers Association. This is one of several programmes Minister Rajapaksa has launched to provide foreign tourists with a quality service.

The programme is launched under the infrastructure development projects to boost tourism. Accordingly, SLTDA has decided to provide tourism regions with beach cleaning, diving and life saving equipment as well as provide life saving training.

In addition, SLDTA has taken steps to build tourism shopping centres in Bentota, Beruwala, Hikkaduwa, Kalutara, Negombo and Pasikuda under the minister's guidance.

At present, Sri Lanka has six tourism regions such as Bentota, Kalpitiya and Pasikuda in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Kuchchuweli, Vakaray and Yala. SLTDA has developed tourism regions in the North and East to make them attractive to visitors.

The number of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka last year was 1 million while this year the number is expected to reach 1.2 million.

The government's target for 2016 is 2.5 million tourists.

SLTDA Chairman Bhashwara Gunarathna, Director-General Dr. DS Jayaweera and Director(Domestic Tourism and Resorts) Mihiri Liyanarachchi were among those present at the certificate awarding ceremony.