Tourism Minister Harin Fernando has informed the Prime Minister that diplomatic talks have been initiated to lift the current travel restrictions on Sri Lanka.
The Minister of Tourism made this announcement during a discussion with the stakeholders in the tourism sector yesterday (June 14).
The Minister also said that more attention will be paid to Indian tourists.
He added that promotional shows will be held with local and international celebrities to attract foreign tourists.
Officials of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLDA) have told the Minister that it expects to attract around 800,000 tourists to the country for the rest of this year and the estimated revenue is US $ 800 million.
The Prime Minister has instructed the officials to prepare a plan to attract tourists from India for the next six months and also requested the relevant authorities to make arrangements for the resumption of operations at the Palaly Airport.
As Sri Lanka aims to attract around 2.5 million tourists by 2025 with an expected revenue of $ 3.5 billion, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has called on all stakeholders to draw up long-term plans to attract around 1.5 million high-cost tourists.
The Prime Minister has also instructed the relevant stakeholders to set up youth awareness programs as the number of new recruits to hotel schools in the country is declining.
Representatives of the Ministry of Tourism and the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Board, Sri Lanka Hotel Management and Tourism Institute, Sri Lanka Hotel Association, Sri Lanka Internal Tour Activists Association, Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association, Sri Lanka Professional Seminars and Festivals, Representatives of the Organizers' Association and the Small and Medium Enterprise Sector participated in the discussion.
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