Financial boon for tourism (SME) sector

Chaminda Perera

In a bid to turn the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector related to tourism into a vital contributor to the country's economic development, the government will introduce a Matching Grant Scheme through which the SMEs in the sector will receive financial assistance on cost sharing basis. The SMEs which become eligible for this scheme will receive 50 percent of the cost to a maximum Rs. 10 million as a grant.

This grant scheme launched under the sustainable tourism development strategy of the Government is aimed at financing over 1,500 such enterprises, creating over 2,000 employment avenues and improving the skills of over 5,000 persons within the industry. This scheme implemented by the ministry on the directive of Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa is assisted by the World Bank.This scheme is entirely administered by the People's Bank of Sri Lanka and applications from eligible SMEs will be entertained by People's Bank branches islandwide from today, May 16 till July 31, 2013.

The Bank has been authorized to receive, appraise and approve the application and it will report the progress of the project to the

ministry and the fund administrator is expected to ensure the disbursement of total grant by the end of September 2014.

According to Director General Sunil Hettiarachchi - Project Director, Tourism Resources Improvement Project, the Economic Development Ministry decided to introduce this programme for the benefit of the SME sector as the Government has clearly identified that Small and Medium Enterprises unlike corporate sector are faced with an enormous challenge of finding funds for the improvement and maintenance of tourism infrastructure. He added that the contribution of the SME sector for the country's development is of paramount importance as the SME sector forms over 70 per cent of the industry. "Since the dawn of peace, the tourism sector has been playing a prominent role in the country's economic development. Last year,

tourist arrivals exceeded the one million mark and the government targets 2.5 million tourist arrivals to the country a year by 2016

and four million tourist arrivals by 2020.

He added that the Ministry has laid more emphasis on how to look in to the needs of the growing number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka.

Director Tourism of the Economic Development Ministry ABM said the ministry's objective is to turn this sector into a vital contributor to the country's economy while preserving cultural values, natural environment and ethos.

"With the growth of tourism, there is a need for improvement of facilities in the adventure and leisure sectors, as there is a demand among tourists for eco - friendly goods and services , special food varieties and souvenirs made in Sri Lanka," he said.

The existing tourism related businesses such as tourist guest houses, independent tourist restaurants, holiday resorts, bungalows for foreign tourists, gift and souvenir products/ craft and folk arts related enterprises, wildlife related products Human Resources Development related to the industry , communication and promotion activities etc which are in operation for more than one year will be eligible for this scheme.

New business ventures, such as, tourist vessels operations, water based, air based and land based adventure activities, road site

stations etc will qualify for this grant.