Committees and committees
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What another task force? “I say…..what is going on,” asked Ruwanputha, a young economist. “Why is the government appointing another committee for tourism when there is one already,” he asked again.He was alluding to an announcement on Tuesday where the Cabinet has approved the establishment of a Presidential Task Force to implement the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Programme. This initiative aligns with the current government’s policy statement, ‘New Tourism Industry – Attractive Destination’, which emphasises the government’s primary focus on developing the tourism sector as a key step towards building a prosperous nation, an official statement said.
“The formation of this task force has been identified as essential to ensure that tourism development activities are carried out more effectively and efficiently. The task force will be chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism. Its membership will comprise representatives from various ministries, institutions and different segments of the tourism sector. The task force’s mandate is to guide and take action to achieve immediate development goals, as well as to work towards long-term sustainable development in the tourism industry,” the statement added.
It was in March this year that the government appointed the Tourism Advisory Committee chaired by Dileep Mudadeniya, Senior Vice President at John Keells Holdings PLC, and which included SriLankan Airlines CEO Richard Nuttal (who has since then quit the airline); Nuwara Eliya Hotels Company (PLC) Deputy Chairman/Managing Director Gerard George Ondaatjie; Connaissance de Ceylon and Thema Collection Chairman/Managing Director Chandra Wickramasinghe; Galle Face Hotels Group Vice President Nihal Muhandiram; and the three heads of the state agencies involved in tourism, among its 14 members.
The mandate of the committee was to advise the government on strategic and sustainable tourism development among other matters, but now the new Presidential task force has the same, identical task to fulfil.
“The present government is falling prey to the practice of previous regimes in having too many committees for policy formulation or commissions of inquiry into political issues. The reality is that you can’t do everything that you promised to do,” said Ruwanputha. “There are too many committees which inevitably results in too many roadblocks and duplication of work,” I said, adding that the new committee is another bureaucratic layer which would have to be overcome in the tourism sector.
While the government may have realised that appointing a Presidential-level task force will speed up work in this sector, what then is the purpose of the March-appointed committee? Both committees seem to have the same focus – strengthening the tourism sector and ensuring its growth momentum.
Tourism has many bottlenecks – the procurement processes are cumbersome and time-consuming resulting in delays in launching the nation branding campaign, while the government seems to have jumped the gun in announcing free visas last month without waiting till it was approved by Parliament, a mandatory requirement since it affects revenue collection. Clearing these should be the priority, not another committee.
The July announcement of visa free entry to nationals from 40 countries was made with no clear date set for its implementation. Industry sources said that it might take at least two months before implementation. “While Cabinet approval has been granted for the move, parliamentary approval is also required since it would result in a revenue loss to the state,” one source said, adding that the government should have announced the move only after all approvals had been given.
The 40 countries are the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Australia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Nepal, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, France, USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Israel, Belarus, Iran, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Korea, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, New Zealand, Kuwait, Norway, Türkiye and Pakistan. From this new list, free visa travel is already permitted for nationals from India, China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Taking a breather, I went to the kitchen and to my pleasant surprise, there were a couple of steaming hot ‘maalu paans’ – looked like Aldoris, the choon- paan karaya, had come our way. Picking up a ‘maalu paan’ and a mug of freshly-made tea, I could overhear the conversation of the trio under the margosa tree.
“Godak policiye kattiya aparada wala saha kudu bisnes wala yedila innawa kiyala paththara wala thiyenawa (Newspapers are saying there are many policemen who are involved in crimes and drugs),” said Kussi Amma Sera. “Police lokka deshabandu thennakonge rassawa nethiwela thiyenney dushitha deval karala thiyena hindaney (The Police Chief Deshabandu Tennakoon has lost his job due to corrupt activities),” added Mabel Rasthiyadu. “Aparada wedi wenawa. Sanghvidanathmak aparada wala yedena godak denek marumuwata path wenawa (The crime rate is rising and many people, mostly involved in organised crime, are getting killed),” noted Serapina.
Tourism, meanwhile, saw a major inclusion in its infrastructure with the official opening of the City of Dreams integrated resort. It’s the first Sri Lankan and South Asian integrated resort. At least 500 high rollers (those into gambling) from India and other parts of Asia visited the resort and its swanky casino last weekend. What is of importance is that the resort complex can accommodate more than 5,000 guests through its multiple venues, making it the single largest convention centre in Sri Lanka – a boost to the country’s MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) sector which was lacking a large convention centre with an add-on hotel. The resort has a total of 800 rooms, making it the largest hotel in Sri Lanka.
Tourism is also on a roll with the country targeting 3 million tourists this year from 2.05 million in 2024 with a revenue of US$3.2 billion collected in 2024 and aiming for $5 billion in 2025. The government has also set an ambitious goal of attracting 5 million tourists by 2030. But the industry reckons that owing to the delayed nation branding campaign, tourism is unlikely to reach its 2025 target.
Be that as it may, tourism would still inch close to the 2025 target, while on the policy side, the government is urged to review the need for two committees on tourism with almost identical agendas.
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