New Tourism Act eyewash to fend off high spending?
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is today seeking much-needed support from the state to carry out promotions and changing of the 2005 Tourism Act is being seen as an eyewash by the industry something the government insists is a requirement to move ahead, industry officials said.
Cabinet approval was granted to the Tourism Ministry to carry out the work on drafting the new Tourism Act and at present it is still under consideration and not yet sent to the Legal Draftsman.
But the need for a new Act has come in for much opposition from the tourism industry as they believe that the 2005 Tourism Act was finalised after giving much thought and which led to the establishment of the four separate institutions. The separation of these institutions was carried out due to valid and logical reasons.
Industry veterans point out that the setting up of the Promotion Bureau with the involvement of the private sector on the board was vital in ensuring representation of those investing and generating revenue to the industry. It is the hotels and the travel companies that are engaged in directly marketing the destination in generating visitors to the country. Moreover, they queried whether the change in the Act can actually increase the number of travellers to the destination which is hardly the case.
The private sector must be represented on the board and it was not relevant to include all stakeholders as the need of the hour is to increase the numbers through marketing and not new legislation.
Authorities however point out that the tourism industry’s main private sector is keen on ensuring the procurement process is being carried out at a faster pace.
But this does not seem to be the concern of the industry as they point out that procurement is continuously carried out by the authorities for participation in travel fairs throughout the year.
In this respect, they wondered whether this same procurement process cannot be carried out for the launch of a global promotion campaign.
However, other state officials have insisted the main concern by the authorities is not in carrying out a promotion campaign but more so that when the cost incurred is high they seem to be always scratching their heads whether this is actually needed.
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