One billion dollar investment:

Govt approves 58 tourism projects in two years

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Government during the past two years has granted approval for 58 tourism related projects to be implemented by the private sector with an investment of nearly US$ one billion, Economic Development Ministry sources told the Sunday Observer .

They said the investment in the tourism sector has shown a significant growth due to the increase in the number of tourist arrivals and prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the country.

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has set up a One Stop Unit to facilitate private sector investment in tourism. The One Stop Unit set up by the SLTDA received applications for 174 tourism related projects up to October 2011. Of the total number of projects, inspections have been carried out on 157 projects and final approval has been granted to 32 projects, the sources said. The total number of rooms in these projects would be around 10,301 while the total investment is around US$ 1682.5 million. In addition, there were 614 new registrations from January to October this year under the categories of travel agencies, hotels, boutique hotels, spas, guest houses, restaurants, home stays, guides and visas. The proposed projects would add 914 rooms to the country’s tourism sector.

The sources said that three mega resorts planned by the SLTDA are at Passikudah, Kalpitiya and Kuchchaveli. The first hotel in the Passikudah Resort came into operation this year and four more hotels are scheduled to be set up next year.

Tourist arrivals will exceed 800,000 this year and the Government targets to achieve 2.5 million tourists by 2016.

In 2011, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa launched a five-year Tourism Development Strategy (2011 to 2016) document, and detailed future strategies to make tourism to be a three-billion dollar industry and create half a million jobs by 2016.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared 2011 as the Visit Sri Lanka year. In the “Visit 2011” campaign, Sri Lanka Tourism focus was on eight product categories under the theme “Eight wonderful experiences in eight wonderful days”.

The eight product categories are beaches, sports and adventure, heritage sites, mind and body wellness, scenic beauty of the country, wildlife and nature, people and culture and year-round festivals.

Many tourists consider coming to Sri Lanka as a refreshing experience. Therefore, “Refreshingly Sri Lanka” was the main emphasis on Visit 2011 campaign, the sources said.