36 percent increase in tourist arrivals

by Uditha KUMARASINGHE

The number of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka has recorded a 36 percent increase compared to last year, Deputy Economic Development Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told the Sunday Observer .

He said that the Government anticipated a target of 500,000 tourist arrivals by the end of this year. According to the latest statistics, the number of arrivals is likely to reach 650,000.

Sri Lanka has been placed in the category of 32 countries which could be visited freely due to the Government defeating the three-decade-old terrorism.

In addition, the travel ban imposed on Sri Lanka by some European countries has been lifted owing to the peaceful atmosphere created in the country.

All these have immensely helped promote the tourism industry, he said.

According to the Deputy Minister, over 30 leading hotels in Sri Lanka had received hundred percent bookings for November and December this year. “ Therefore, we are confident that we could reach the target of 650,000 tourist arrivals by the end of this year,” he said.

He said that the Government has given approval for investors to build new hotels at Pasikudah, Kuchaveli and Trincomalee. Another two or three hotels have also been constructed in the Southern Province. With over 2,000 new rooms being added the target is to construct 40,000 hotel rooms by year 2016.

“We have called upon the people in the Northern and the Eastern provinces to conform to the standard recommended by the tourist authorities when they construct new rooms in their premises so that it could be rented out to tourists and earn an additional income. This would help create a close rapport between the people and the tourist industry”, he said.