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| Sunday, 17 July 2005 |
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Meeting to promote tourism in SAARC region by Surekha Galagoda Visit South Asia, The SAARC Tourism Ministers meeting will be held on July 29 in Colombo to promote tourism in the SAARC region. The executive committee meeting of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and the SAARC Chambers Tourism Council meeting will be held on July 30. Minister of Tourism Anura Bandaranaike will be the chief guest at the SAARC Tourism Ministers' meeting. The aim of the meeting is to develop tourism in South Asia and to bring about economic, social and cultural dividends to the region. There is a growing need for increasing cooperation to jointly promote tourism within South Asia as well as to promote South Asia as a tourist destination. A stamp and picture post card will be launched to commemorate South Asia Tourism Year at this meeting. The other highlight of the program is the One to One Business Meeting Session, which is open for Travel Agents, Tour Operators and Hoteliers in the South Asian region. Sri Lankan resource personnel will share their ideas on how Sri Lanka has successfully overcome the vagaries of the tsunami and its after-effects and what steps they have taken to put Sri Lanka back on the tourism map of the world. The tourism industry needs to project Sri Lanka as a safe destination so that the Western world withdraws the Travel Advisories. The year 2005 was declared as the "South Asian Tourism Year" by the heads of the Seven SAARC Governments at the Twelfth SAARC Summit held in Islamabad in January 2004 . President SCCI Macky Hashim representing Sri Lanka has prepared a comprehensive activity plan to enhance the objectives of the SCCI and its council to improve the tourism industry in Sri Lanka and in the SAARC region. FCCISL and SCCI are jointly organising the "SAARC Tourism Ministers' Meeting" in collaboration with Government authorities and private sector organisations related to the travel and tourism industry. Already Maldives and Nepal have confirmed their participation while the SCCI too will send a delegation of 20 members. The organisers are expecting more than 100 delegates to participate in these events. Tourism is the world's largest economic activity growing at a significant rate. Last year, 760 million tourists travelled to various destinations worldwide. The meeting of SAARC tourism ministers is a very timely action, especially in the aftermath of the tsunami where some of the South Asian countries badly affected are working to launch their destinations on a recovery path. Sri Lanka will be able to showcase that tourism is still a very important economic activity and not all the tourist attractions have been affected by the tsunami. |
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