New Police division to ensure safety of tourists

by Chanuka Mannapperuma

The Ministry of Tourism, Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) and the Police Department have set up a police division with its head office at the SLTB, premises to enhance tourism.

The functions of the Police Division include the re-establishment of a network of tourists police stations and units at key tourists locations to ensure tourists have a hassle free holiday experience in Sri Lanka.

The Minister of Tourism Milinda Moragoda said "Our objective is to create a safe and friendly environment to our travellers and by setting up the police division we expect to ensure that the use of children for commercial sex,drugs and other undesirable activities will be minimised.

PTD Director SSP Maxie Proctor said several key locations will be looked into to address current issues such as creating awareness of the Police Division, assuring protection, speedy response to complaints, dealing with harassment of tourists, facilitation of tourism, and investigating allegations of abuse by tourists.

He said that 225 complaints from around 549,000 tourists in 2005 and 192 from 559,000 tourists were not an indication of the problem.

He said, "following a discussion between the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Tourism it was decided that there was a need to re-establish a Tourist Police Division to address issues of the tourism industry.