No monopoly among tour operators - SLAITO

Jayantha de Silva

'SLAITO' the Tour Operators Association categorically said that there is no monopoly amongst tour operators as recently claimed by some segments in the industry.

President of the Slaito Mahen Kariyawasam said in a media briefing on June 13.

He said Forex earned last year was US $1,038 million. In the same year the daily earning from on a per head basis is US $103 .

Five Hundred and Sixty Four Tour Operators had being approved by the Tourists Board in the same year.

He refuted the contention that the country is loosing forex attributed to Tour Operators and blamed the allegation on handful of tourists driver guides who are unable to compete with what he called "active tourists drivers' and resort to spread unfound allegations.

He labeled the allegations as a canard. A case in point is the strike conducted on March this year was a flop. He queried as to how this was possible if the tourists driver guides had both influence and power as they claim. They now harp the notion that our association demanded to conduct the work stoppage.