Attract more tourists, resume Palaly operations: Prime Minister advises tourism stakeholders

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) said it expects to attract around 800,000 tourists for the rest of the year, with an estimated revenue of $ 800 million, in a discussion held with the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe held discussions with stakeholders in the tourism sector today (14) at the Prime Minister's Office, where he instructed officials to prepare a plan to attract tourists from India for the next six months.

He also requested the relevant authorities to make arrangements for the resumption of operations of the Palaly Airport.

With Sri Lanka targeting around 2.5 million tourists by 2025 with an expected revenue of $ 3.5 billion, the Prime Minister urged all stakeholders to formulate long-term plans to attract around 1.5 million high-level tourists.

The Prime Minister also instructed the relevant stakeholders to engage in youth awareness programs as many employees in the hospitality sector have already left for other locations and the number of new recruits to hotel schools in the country has come down drastically.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe also discussed the possibilities of organizing cultural festivals which will provide a unique opportunity to create new employment opportunities and allow the tourists to immerse themselves in the local cultures, and urged the public sector tourism officials to work towards improving the Galle Literary Festival to attract more authors and literary lovers from all over the world.

Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando said that he had already held discussions with the diplomatic community to compel the relevant countries to lift the existing tourism restrictions on Sri Lanka.

Minister Fernando added that promotional shows with local and international celebrities are planned to attract foreign tourists with a focus on Indian tourists.