The Government is focusing on taking urgent action to maintain the tourism industry in the country as a debt free industry.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Prof.W.D. Lakshman says that the Central Bank is taking measures to make the tourism a debt free industry, to address the problems encountered by those in the tourism industry due to the Covid pandemic and to implement a formal plan for the revival of the tourism industry. He stressed that these new programs will be implemented to maintain the tourism industry so that those who are engaged in the tourism industry for a long time will not fall back for any reason even after the Covid pandemic is under control.

This was emphasized at a discussion held between State Minister of Finance, Hon. Ajith Nivard Cabraal and tourism stakeholders at the request of Minister of Tourism,Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga.

The stakeholders of tourism industry stated that a large number of persons in the tourism industry have lost their livelihoods due to the severe collapse of the tourism industry and alleged that the relief provided by the government have not received properly.State Minister of Finance,Hon. Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that attention has been paid to extend the relief package provided during the period of Covid pandemic.State Minister of  Finance  emphasized that all possible measures will be taken to prevent the collapse of the tourism industry and that new plans will be formulated to bring the tourism industry back to normalcy within the expected period.

State Minister of  Finance pointed out that the government had provided various reliefs during the last one and a half years and that the government is paying attention to the requests for extending the relief for another six months, adding that lives as well as livelihoods should be protected during the Covid pandemic.  State Minister of Finance also pointed out that the government has spent Rs. 165 billion to control the Covid pandemic and Rs. 168 billion to provide Sawubhagya loans and that Rs. 4,000 billion has been spent on debt relief packages.

Minister of Tourism, Hon.Prasanna Ranatunga said that those engaged in the industry should be protected in order to protect the tourism industry. He pointed out that although the government has implemented various programs for this purpose, various problems have also arisen in providing benefits to those who are engaged in the industry and the purpose of this discussion was to provide solutions to those problems. The Minister stated that with the success of the Covid vaccination program, the tourism industry in Sri Lanka will be able to resume it without any interruption. It is hoped that the government will soon be able to attract tourists to Sri Lanka as part of its ongoing efforts to control the Covid pandemic.

It was further revealed that a number of programs are expected to be implemented to attract international tourists to the country.

Mr.S. Hettiarachchi, Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Mr.Priyantha Ratnayake, Secretary to the State Ministry of Finance, Mrs.Dhammika Wijesinghe, Director General of the Tourism Development Authority and representatives of various organizations in the field of tourism were present on this occasion.