Shirajiv Sirimane
TOURISM: The global travel agents and companies have not abandoned selling Sri Lanka and they still have confidence in the destination, said the President of the Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators (SLITO) Dirk Girkson.
Speaking at an event organised by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) yesterday he said this is very encouraging and they are also happy with the meaningful steps taken by the SLTB and the Government to
Inbound tourists:Continuing confidence
President Sri Lanka Travel Agents Association (TAASL) Hiran Cooray said they are thankful to the Government for bringing tourism in line with other industries and granting them concessions on electricity tariff. This would help us to save around 35 percent from our costs,” he said.
However, the industry is now faced with another problem, as they have to now increase wages in accordance with a circular send by the Ministry of Labour to be effective from next month.
“This would once again increase our operational costs by almost 30 percent,” he said. He said they are now looking at the government to assist them to provide soft loans to pay up loans taken during the tsunami.
Chairman SLTB, Renton de Alwis, said that one of the main aims of their tourism recovery plan is to have a regular smooth cash flow to the hotels so that they can be sustainable.
“For this we are promoting domestic tourism and are requesting young working couples to send their parents to hotels during week days,” he said.
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