Travel / Lifestyle

UNWTO to showcase Lanka as safe tourist destination

by Surekha Galagoda

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) will support Sri Lanka in its endeavours to showcase to the world that tourists are safe in Sri Lanka. UNWTO representative Christina Brew said that they are helping Sri Lanka at present and will continue to do so in the future.

Most of the projects initiated in Sri Lanka after the tsunami are complete now but we are not here only for the tsunami, said Ms. Brew at the inauguration ceremony of the UNWTO regional workshop on Tourism Statistics and Tourism Satellite Accounts for South Asia.

She said that tourism is the fastest growing industry in the world. International tourist arrivals crossed the 800 million mark in 2005 and it is growing at 4%. The WTO is working strenuously to make countries understand the importance of tourism.

In most countries until now tourism has not had the right recognition nor the political and popular support it merits, given its size worldwide general growth and outstanding capacity to create jobs. For that reason UNWTO has dedicated sustained efforts to designing statistical instruments to help countries in their estimation of the impact of tourism to their economies and on the world economy as a whole.

These statistical instruments use hard facts and figures that would be internationally comparable and reliable as other data produced regarding other economic activities.

Among these instruments the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) plays an outstanding role as a coordinating and reconciliation framework and a link with statistical systems covering other economic activities.

A TSA requires specific technical know-how and a great amount of data coming from various sources including non-tourism specific ones. Therefore, most countries need to face the development of a TSA in stages initially utilising the statistics that are available or can be made available in the short to medium term.

The first data required include information on international and domestic visitors consumption and information related to the supply of tourism resources such as accommodation, food serving services and transport. Many countries find it difficult to generate a consistent and reliable database on such areas and even have difficulties in initialising the development of a TSA.

UNWTO consultant Stan Fleetwood said that there has been tremendous growth in tourism but measuring it is a challenge. At present there are two international standards to measure the growth of tourism.

Fleetwood said that domestic tourism is bigger than international tourism globally but collecting statistics is a challenging task due to the lack of reliable information.

A native Australian, Fleetwood said that Australians have a positive image of Sri Lanka and that he was happy to visit the country which is full of greenery.

Secretary, Ministry of Tourism P. M. Leelaratne said that tourism is an important economic industry. The measurement of earnings, profits made are essential for policy makers to take decisions.

In the event they have the correct information they can take the most appropriate investment decisions. In this regard validity and reliability is also a must.

Therefore, this workshop will be of tremendous use to all the participants as they will get to learn the most up-to-date methods of analysing data.

[email protected] 

Tranquillity reigns at Bin-Vino

Bin-Vino, a tourist holiday resort off Gampola town is surrounded by a range of mountains. Tranquillity reigns in the entire landscape. The magnificent spectacle surrounding the hotel is dominated by Dumbara valley, Adam's Peak, Utuwankanda and Ambuluwawa, a world heritage.

On certain days the landscape gets totally covered with mist. The hotel consists of 25 rooms including two family rooms and a suite also. Each room has a separate balcony.

Newly-wed couples enjoy their honeymoon at Bin-Vino.

Historic places of archaeological value such as Ambuluwawa, Ambakka and Gadaladeniya are in close proximity. The Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, old Muslim Mosque and the Pinnawala elephant Orphanage also add beauty to Bin-Vino.

The Mountbatten Cafeteria and Dumbara Cafeteria are well known for their mouth-watering savoury foods.

Emirates voted 'Best ME Airline' by Telegraph readers

Emirates has been voted 'Best Middle East Airline' by readers of the Daily Telegraph's luxury travel magazine Ultratravel.

The airline was the winner of the prestigious Ultratravel 100 award at a ceremony at the InterContinental London Park Lane, attended by key representatives from the travel industry.

Emirates' Senior Vice President of Media Relations, Sponsorships and Events, Boutros Boutros who received the award, said: "We are delighted to have been voted Best Middle East Airline by the readers of this luxury travel magazine.

The award is particularly important to us because it is voted for by travellers, demonstrating that even the most discerning customers recognise the quality of the Emirates service, which we are continually striving to enhance."

New cabin baggage guidelines on Malaysian Airline

Effective May 21, Malaysia Airlines' passengers travelling out of Malaysia to international destinations are required to observe the cabin baggage ruling on liquids, aerosols and gels announced recently by the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia in compliance with the security guidelines issued by International Civil Aviation Organisation.

The ruling limits personal use liquids, aerosols and gel items in cabin baggage to containers not exceeding 100 millilitres and requires them to be packed in a re-sealable transparent plastic bag measuring 20 cm x 20 cm.

Each passenger, irrespective of class of travel, is allowed only one plastic bag of these personal use items whose total volume should not exceed one litre and all such items in excess of this measurement should be placed in checked baggage.

For the convenience of passengers, the airport authority will distribute these re-sealable plastic bags free for six months at the airport information counters and boarding pass check points as well as Malaysia Airlines check-in counters.

To facilitate smooth flight departure formalities, passengers must separately produce the cabin baggage and these plastic bags with contents at each security screening point in the airport after check-in. In addition, special food items (such as liquid baby food or food for diabetics) or medicines that are essential during the flight (nose spray, eye drops or insulin, for example) may be taken on board.

Passengers will have to provide documents that they need to take these items with them in their cabin luggage (eg. doctor's prescription) for the journey.