The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga said that Rs. 81.64 million has been spent to provide financial relief to the Tourist Guides and Drivers registered with the Tourism Development Authority and have been affected by the Covid pandemic. Accordingly, Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 15,000 each have been paid respectively for 4746 Tourist Guides and Drivers registered with the Tourism Development Authority of Sri Lanka.
The Tourism Development Authority has allocated Rs. 186 million to provide such allowances to registered Tourist Guides and Drivers in the tourism sector. Accordingly, an allowance of Rs. 20,000 has been paid to 2510 national and provincial level Tourist Guides registered with the Authority. Nearly, Rs. 47.10 million has been spent for this purpose. In addition, 2236 registered Tourist Drivers have been paid an allowance of Rs. 15,000 each as at June 30, 2021 at a cost of Rs. 34.54 million.
Despite the Covid pandemic, the government is taking steps to revive the tourism industry, said the Minister, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga. Accordingly, the registration fees of travel agencies registered with the Tourism Development Authority have been waived off. Measures were taken to provide quarantine facilities and intermediate relief centres in tourist hotels, to provide debt relief facility and leasing facilities to those engaged in the tourism sector and to introduce relief measures to settle electricity and water bills.
The Minister, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga pointed out that due to the fact that many people in the tourism industry are not registered with the Tourism Development Authority, some of them have encountered various problems in obtaining these reliefs. The Minister said that reviving the tourism industry in the face of the Covid pandemic was a major challenge in the world and that Sri Lanka is doing its utmost to overcome that challenge.
