Financial Times

The Ministry of Tourism was not sounded out when the Tourist Board organised the Sri Lanka Travel Mart a week before the ‘Refreshingly Sri Lanka,’ the first in a series of events to promote cultural diplomacy held on June 19th at Trafalgar Square in London.

“We were never consulted and we did not collaborate on the event,” Dr. Prathap Ramanujam, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism told The Sunday Times FT. he said that he along with the other officials were invited for the event at the BMICH, Colombo, but in retrospect they were detached from the show.

Industry sources meanwhile said that with the Tourist Board aiming at increasing arrivals to one million by 2010, a little togetherness by the two institutions would be much welcome. “Increased violence and the recent claymore attack which killed more than 60 civilians will put in questions of future achievement of tourism targets. In such a station the two premier institutions in the country should start collaborating,” an industry analyst said.
Meanwhile, the London festival was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sri Lanka High Commission in London in collaboration with the Ministry of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Trade, Commerce & Consumer Affairs and the Ministry of Culture & National Heritage. Industry analysts said that tourism improved by 27 percent during the first quarter of 2006 indicating that the economy is recovering from the tsunami. Tourist earnings for the first quarter recorded an increase of 102.6 percent against the corresponding period in 2005.

Total arrivals in the January to March period of 2006 were 159,664. Visitors from Europe accounted to 40 percent of revenue which has increased by 23 percent and significant number of Indians has arrived during the quarter.