Puttalam to see tourism boom

Dharma Sri Abeyratne in Puttalam

The government implemented a mega scale tourism promotion programme in the Puttalam district, said District Secretary H Kingley Fernando.

He was addressing a media seminar organized by the Information Department under the theme "the role of provincial journalists for district development" in Puttalam yesterday.

The government allocated millions of rupees on other development and welfare promotion activities, Fernando said.

The money was utilized for infrastructure development, social welfare, livelihood development and other community projects which uplift the people's living standards, the District Secretary said.

The Puttalam district comprises 1,273 villages in 16 Divisional Secretariat divisions.

The district consists of 192,634 families of which 57,584 are Samurdhi beneficiaries, he said.

Eleven star class hotels are being constructed in the Kalpitiya tourist zone with the aim of building 5,000 star class hotel rooms in the district. The construction of three hotels is nearing completion. Work on others will be completed by 2016.

The project will generate 15,000 direct employments and 45,000 indirect employments, the District Secretary said.

He said two eco-tourism villages will be constructed out of the tourism zone. Ten more star class and non star class hotels will be established out of the tourism zone by 2016.

The number of tourist bungalows will also be increased, Fernando said.