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Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga says that 07 airlines are ready to commence direct flights to Sri Lanka. He hopes that the airlines will commence flights to Sri Lanka before the end of this year.
Of these, five airlines have already agreed to operate at the Katunayake Airport. Russia's AEROFOLT Airlines is scheduled to commence flights on November 4, and Russian airline AZUR AIR is scheduled to commence flights on November 11. Their special flights are scheduled to commence on the 30th. Italian airline NEOS and French airline AIRFRANCE are scheduled to launch new flights to Katunayake Airport from November 1. Bangladesh US BANGLA AIRLINES is also scheduled to launch flights to Katunayake Airport from November 1.
Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga said that Israel's ARKIA and Switzerland's SWISSAIR are willing to commence direct flights with Sri Lanka. The Minister pointed out that further action will be taken in this regard in the future. At present, 16 airlines operate passenger operations at the Katunayake Airport. There are 08 airlines operating cargo operations at the Katunayake Airport. Four airlines operate special flights to Katunayake Airport.
Meanwhile, four international airlines are also considering to commence new operations at Mattala Airport. The Minister said that discussions are underway in this regard and that the four airlines are expected to commence flights from the Mattala Airport in the near future.
With the relaxation of health guidelines, more tourists are expected to visit the country. The Tourism Development Authority is already implementing several special tourism promotion campaigns in European countries. The aim is to attract more European tourists to Sri Lanka this coming winter. Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga further stated that he expects to give wide publicity about Sri Lanka through tourism exhibitions, activities as well as media and social media campaigns of those countries.
ගුවන් මගීන් සඳහා පී.සී.ආර් පරීක්ෂණ සිදුකිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය නතර කර නැතැයි ගුවන්තොටුපල හා ගුවන්සේවා සමාගමේ උප සභාපති රජීව් සූරියාරච්චි මහතා පවසයි. මෙම පී.සී.ආර් පරීක්ෂණ සිදුකිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය අත්හිටුවා ඇති බවටත් අලුතින් ආරම්භ කෙරුණු පී.සී.ආර් පරීක්ෂණාගාරය වසා දමා ඇති බවටත් පල වන වාර්තා පදනම් විරහිත බවද උප සභාපතිවරයා පෙන්වා දෙයි.
කටුනායක ගුවන්තොටුපලට පැමිණෙන සංචාරකයින් හා විගමනික ශ්‍රමිකයින් සඳහා පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණ සිදුකර පැය 03ක් තුල එම වාර්තා ලබාදීම සඳහා පසුගිය 25 වෙනිදා ආරම්භ කෙරුණු පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණාගාරයේ ඉදිරි කටයුතු පැහැදිලි කිරීම සඳහා කැඳවා තිබූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී උප සභාපතිවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කලේය.
මෙහිදි වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ ගුවන්තොටුපල හා ගුවන්සේවා සමාගමේ උප සභාපති රජීව් සූරියාරච්චි මහතා මෙසේද කීවේය.
‘‘ ගුවන්තොටුපල තුල අපි මේ වෙනකොට පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂා කිරීම සිදුකරනවා. මෙහි කිසිම ප්‍රශ්ණයක් සිදුව නෑ. පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණාගාරය වහලා කියන එක සම්පූර්ණ අසත්‍යයි.මේක යන්ත්‍රානුසාරයෙන් කරන වැඩක්. එවිට විවිධ තාක්ෂණික දෝෂ මතුවිය හැකියි.ඒ නිසා අපි ඒ ක්‍රියාවලියේදී මතුවන ප්‍රායෝගික ගැටලු වලට විසඳුම් ලබාදෙමින් එම ක්‍රියාවලිය නිවැරදි කරමින් සිටිනවා.
කොවිඩ් එන්නත් දෙකම ලබාගෙන දින 14කට පසුව එන අයටයි අපි මේ පරීක්ෂණ කරන්නේ.කොවිඩ් එන්නත් එකක් ලබාගත් අය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අනුගමනය කරන්නේ වෙනම ක්‍රමවේදයක්. පැය 03කින් මෙම වාර්තාව දෙන බව අපි ප්‍රකාශ කලා. එහි වෙනසක් නෑ. නමුත් ඇතැම් අයගේ වාර්තා ප්‍රමාද වෙලා තියෙනවා. ඒ ගැන හොයලා බලපුවාම දැනගන්න ලැබුනේ ඇතැම් අය ලබාදීලා තිබුණ ඊමේල් ලිපිනය,දුරකථන අංක වගේ ඒවගේ ගැටලු නිසා මේ තත්වය ඇතිවුන බවයි අපට වාර්තා වෙලා තියෙන්නේ. එය දැන් නිවැරදි කරගන්න කටයුතු කරගෙන යනවා.
මේක ලේසි වැඩක් නෙමෙයි. මේක විශාල ක්‍රියාවලියක්. අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමාට අවශ්‍ය වෙලා තිබුනා ලංකාවට එන ගුවන් මගීන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඉතා ඉක්මනින් තමන්ගේ ගමනාන්තයට යන්න අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් සලසන්න. ඒ අනුවයි මේ පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණ කඩිනමින් ලබාදීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය ආරම්භ කලේ. පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණ ක්‍රියාවලිය අපි මේ වනවිටත් ක්‍රියාත්මකයි. එය කිසිසේත් නතර කර නැහැ.
මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇතැමුන් විවිධ බොරු ප්‍රචාර ගෙන ගියත් ගුවන්තොටුපලේ පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණ කටයුතු අඛණ්ඩව ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා.
ඒ වගේම කියන්න කැමතියි මෙය අද ඊයේ ආරම්භ වූ ක්‍රියාවලියක් නෙමෙයි. මේ පරීක්ෂණාගාරයට අදාල කැබිනට් ප්‍රත්‍රිකාව අනුමත වුනේ පසුගිය ජූලි 09 වෙනිදා. මාස 02ක් ඇතුලත අපි එය ස්ථාපිත කලා. මෙහෙයුම් ක්‍රියාවලියත් අපි දැන් අඛණ්ඩව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනවා.’’
Minister of Labour, Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva says that the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) will pay for the PCR tests conducted at the Airport on migrant workers returning to Sri Lanka from overseas employment.
The Minister made this statement at a discussion held at the Ministry today.
Hon.Prasanna Ranatunga, Minister of Tourism, Hon.Priyankara Jayaratne, State Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Officials from the Airport and Aviation Services Company, the Army and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) also attended the discussion.
Commenting on this process, the Minister of Labour, Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva stated that PCR tests will be conducted at the new laboratory set up at the airport premises for these migrant workers who have earned foreign exchange for our country while working abroad.
Minister of Labour, Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) had decided to pay US $ 40 per each PCR test in recognition of the service rendered by the migrant workers.
Speaking at the discussion, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga said that the main objective of the program was to conduct a PCR test and enable the migrant worker to return home within a short period of three hours.
Minister, Hon.Prasanna Ranatunga further said that migrant workers who have been fully vaccinated, will be given the opportunity to return home directly, if they are not identified as Covid -19 infected persons by the test.
State Minister, Hon. Piyankara Jayaratne stated that special attention will be paid to Sri Lankan workers seeking employment in the Middle East and Korea.
Mr. Pathirana, Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), and Mr. Rajiva Sooriyarachchi, Vice Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services Company were also present on the occasion.
The PCR laboratory in Katunayake, which issues PCR testing results of Sri Lankan migrant workers and inbound tourists in three hours, commenced its testing yesterday. Accordingly, the first PCR tests were carried out on 53 passengers arrived from EK 652 Emirates flight which arrived in Sri Lanka from Dubai at 06.30 p.m. yesterday (25). Among them were Sri Lankan expatriates and tourists as well. Steps were taken to issue the PCR results of the first batch in less than three hours and to send the relevant reports to their mobile phones.
Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga submitted a Cabinet Memorandum on July 9, seeking cabinet approval for the construction of the laboratory, which was approved by the President, H.E.Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister, Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa and Minister of Finance, Hon. Basil Rajapaksa. The PCR laboratory with an investment of US $ 5 million was built as a joint project between the Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd and Hospinorm Company. The construction works of this PCR laboratory began on July 23.
The laboratory, which can conduct 500 PCR tests per hour and 7000 PCR tests per day, was constructed at the18th mile post in Katunayake area and was declared open by Minister of Health, Hon. Keheliya Rambukwella and Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga on the 23rd. Although it was initially targeted at inbound tourists, it was later decided to conduct PCR testing on migrant workers as well. Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has agreed to pay the charges on behalf of Sri Lankan migrant workers returning to home who have registered with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) and left for foreign employments. The discussion was chaired by Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga, Minister of Labour, Hon.Nimal Siripala de Silva and State Minister of Foreign Employment, Hon. Piyankara Jayaratne.
Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga, Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd, Major General (Retired), G.A. Chandrasiri, Vice Chairman, Mr. Rajiv Sooriyarachchi and other officials were present at the airport to observe the PCR testing process carried out for the passengers of the Dubai flight that arrived in Sri Lanka at 6.30 p.m. yesterday. The entire process from the passenger’s arrival terminal to issuing the PCR testing reports was thoroughly inspected by the Minister of Tourism and he advised the relevant officials on certain procedures.
Responding to questions posed by journalists, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga said that this PCR laboratory is very important for tourists and Sri Lankans. The Minister said that steps are being taken to update the existing travel restrictions to attract more tourists and added that the laboratory was built as per a policy decision of the government. The Minister further said that the government has been working for this since last July and this was done on the need to do so in a correct manner in rebuilding the country which had collapsed due to Covid pandemic.
"We are fighting against an invisible enemy. We can not act as we think here. This should be done very carefully. Now we started this. Quick solutions cannot be found for pandemics. We are concerned about the practical issues that may arise in the future. Accordingly, if problems arise, we will continue to find practical solutions to them,” the Minister said.
Hon.Keheliya Rambukwella - Minister of Health
Hon.Prasanna Ranatunga - Minister of Tourism
Minister of Health, Hon. Keheliya Rambukwella says that as we have a history of standing up and overcoming challenges as a country, we can defeat Covid-19 pandemic and boost the tourism industry.
The Minister also said that the tourism industry is re-building by taking the right policy decisions without looking for excuses.
He made these remarks speaking at the opening of the PCR laboratory set up at the Katunayake Airport today (23).
PCR tests will be conducted at this laboratory exclusively for tourists arriving in Sri Lanka from next Saturday. Nearly, 7000 PCR tests per day will be conducted in this laboratory at the rate of 500 PCR tests per hour. The laboratory will issue a PCR test report to inbound tourists to Sri Lanka as little as three hours. This PCR laboratory is located in the 18th mile post area of Katunayake and if the PCR test report is negative and the tourists who have got both doses of the Covid vaccine, can go to the tourism destinations in Sri Lanka without any interruption.
This is the first time that such a high quality PCR laboratory has been built near an airport in an Asian country. Although a private company has invested for this project, the laboratory is solely owned by the Airport and Aviation Services Company of Sri Lanka. The laboratory operates under a two-year management contract. The lab charges US $ 40 per tourist for a PCR test.
Hon.Prasanna Ranatunga - Minister of Tourism
—If we all work together, we can achieve tourism goals. There are three main ministries that bring foreign exchange to the country. The Ministry of Tourism is one of them. If tourists come to this country during the Covid pandemic, we have to understand how other countries are operating and act competitively. We appreciate the support given by the Minister of Health to the Ministry of Tourism in taking care of travel guidelines in a short period of time—.
˜We have seen many comments in the media in the recent past regarding the tourism sector. During the last one and a half months, while this laboratory was under construction, there was a lot of criticism in the media. At the beginning of the pandemic, we did not know about the behaviour of the Corona virus. As such, the government took steps to impose health guidelines and security measures to secure the people by locking down the country. The President wanted to vaccinate everyone in the country. Today the Ministry of Health is successfully carrying out that program. It is in this context that the program to bring tourists to Sri Lanka under health care guidelines is being formulated. When you go to a foreign country, if you bring the PCR report obtained in Sri Lanka, there will be no interruption in foreign countries. When a tourist is given a PCR test report within three hours, a fully vaccinated tourist will be able to travel in the country. Tourists who have not been fully vaccinated, must stay in a hotel for fourteen days for quarantine. In a few days, inbound travellers can get the PCR test report from here within three hours. If they receive a negative PCR test report, they will be able to travel around the country without any interruption. Necessary arrangements are being made at this place. This laboratory is not limited to tourists but also to Sri Lankan migrant workers. A request was made to give them opportunities. After their arrival in the country, they have to stay in a hotel, until they receive the PCR test report. Therefore, there were many criticisms about this process. The Minister of Health also requested that opportunities be provided for the migrant workers as well. After the opening of this laboratory, steps will be taken to formulate a methodology in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Labour so that migrant workers can come here and obtain a PCR test report if they wish. This laboratory is a great strength to us in bringing tourists to this country. Other countries are ahead of us in terms of tourist arrivals. Nearly 50,000 tourists have arrived in our country. Our goal is to attract around 5,000 tourists per day. When tourists arrive in Sri Lanka, we have to make the necessary facilities for the tourists. The Opposition always opposes what we are doing. They come to Parliament and say that the tourism sector has collapsed. It is also said that Corona is spread due to tourist arrivals. We invite everyone to bring tourists to Sri Lanka and build the country's economy while protecting the people of the country˜.
State Minister, Hon. D.V. Chanaka
—Tourism is the largest foreign exchange earner in Sri Lanka. Due to Easter attack in 2019, tourism industry collapsed and this is a sector that has seen 20 percent growth every year since 2014. With the victory of the country's existed war, Sri Lanka became the best country to visit in the world every year. That situation collapsed with the Easter attack. Due to pandemic, we lost $ 4.5 million that we received from the tourism sector. Now we come to a juncture where nearly 1000 tourists now visit Sri Lanka daily. The countries where most number of tourists arrive in Sri Lanka, are now removing us from the red list of travel restriction. Once again, the confidence on our country in the world is being restored. More than 50 percent of the population in Sri Lanka has been vaccinated up to date˜.
State Minister of Aviation and Export Zone Development, Hon. D.V. Chanaka, Major General (Retired), G.A Chandrasiri, Chairman, Airport and Aviation Services Company (AASL) and Mr.Rajiv Sooriyarachchi, Vice Chairman of AASL also addressed the gathering.
Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), under The Ministry of Tourism and Lands welcomed World's Top Travel Influencer Nusier Yassin also known as ''Nas Daily'’ to promote Sri Lanka as One of Best Travel Destinat
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Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, in collaboration with Airport and Aviation Services organized a special ceremony to celebrate 100,000 tourist arrivals from Russian Federation through direct flights.
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