The government has decided to implement a three-prong strategy to review the Tourism industry following the Easter Sunday bombing.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met with senior representatives from the tourism industry on Tuesday to outline the government's plans.
As a first step, the government will adopt security measures to ensure safety in the industry. Under this programme, the government will establish safety measures from the airport to all the tourist destinations. The Premier said that the government would ensure the hotel security are provided with adequate training to face the new threats.
The representatives from the tourism industry thanked the government on steps taken to improve the security in the country and said it will be the safety of the tourists which will matter mostly to revive the industry.
The Prime Minister was requested to introduce a tax concession to the safety equipment they may have to import from overseas.
The Prime Minister also instructed the State Minister of Defence, Ruwan Wijewardane, to work closely with the industry representatives on safety training, introducing new security measures and to brief the industry periodically on the security situation. Wickremesinghe requested the tourism industry representatives to appoint a committee to work closely with the Defence Ministry.
Menwhile, replying to request made by the representatives to introduce financial relief to the industry the Premier said that it is one of the steps that the government is going to adopt to revive the tourist industry.
He assured them that the Finance Ministry would discuss the matter with relevant authorities to ensure maximum financial relief is provided to all stakeholders.
As the third step, once the security is improved, the government will work with the industry to introduce a global promotional campaign to attract tourist back to th country.
The hotels were requested to conduct a security audit using one of the leading global agencies to show the world that Sri Lanka is now safe to travel to.
