I have been keenly following the unfolding changes that had taken place in the tourism sector. The year 2008 had been a mixed one. The structural changes made internally in the administration of the sector had proved successful. The decision to bring into force the new Tourism Act is a positive and far reaching action, UPFA Hambantota District member Nirupama Rajapakse told Parliament during the committee stage budget debate on tourism.

The private sector which is the main engine of growth has now been given the opportunity to be a part of the administration. They have been demanding for a long period to develop the sector together with the Public Sector and this opportunity has now beign afforded. Sri Lanka Tourism during the past one year has grown despite many obstacles. There is no doubt that tourism is the most affected industry in the face of the turbulent situation we are experiencing at present, she said.

However, having a Minister with lots of international experience and a young Deputy Minister has largely helped to overcome obstacles faced by the industry. Promulgating the Tourism Act No 38 of 2005 with effect from 01 October 2007 had initiated a massive restructuring process resulting in a dynamic consultative process and a sharing culture for the public and private sectors and Small and Medium Entrepreneurs in Tourism to work in partnership, for the development of Tourism, leaving aside petty political differences, Nirupama said.

This Co-operation between public and the private sector is essential for an industry like tourism, which is our fourth largest foreign exchange earner, looking after a population of nearly 9 million people who are direct and indirect beneficiaries of the industry. It’s potential for elevating itself to be second largerst foreign exchange earner, she noted.

The Tourism Promotion Bureau under the new Act appears to have taken several innovative steps that are timely and appropriate given the challenges for the 21st Century. Foreign offices of the tourist board in France and Germany had been closed down while the UK office was to be strengthened saving annually 30-40 million rupees while intensifying efforts in Russia, Middle East, China, Japan and India, she said.

Deputy Minister of Tourism Mohamed Faiszer Musthapha said though tourism worldwide was suffering due the world economic crisis and long haul travel being discouraged due to climate change the strategy to obtain optimum results was developed after consulting the stakeholders so that aggressive promotion in new areas.

The Middle East market that was not focused earlier was now generating dividends and I have for the first time led promotional delegations to UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan. For the first time we carried a joint advertisement with Sri Lankan Airlines in the Al Jazeera Arabic channel that had shown results, the Deputy Minister said.

From November 8 – 10 the Tourism Minister visited Iran and met his counterpart Rahim Mashee and more than 70 top level tour operators and we are hopeful that Mahan Air with few charters will help to generate traffic from Iran. We will also pay attention to the Chinese and Japanese markets now that we have developed a multi-faceted trade and investment ties with these two major markets.