• Tourism Minister Harin Fernando says National Tourism Policy marks a significant milestone for Sri Lanka to emerge as premier player globally

Tourism Minister Harin Fernando

By Charumini de Silva

After a prolonged period of four years, the Cabinet of Ministers approved implementation of the 10-year National Tourism Policy following a thorough review process and consultation with industry experts. 

On 4 September 2023, the Cabinet agreed that the draft National Tourism Policy required a comprehensive approach and should be further reviewed by a committee comprising of experts in the tourism industry.

Subsequently, the President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake appointed a committee tasked with delving deeper into the challenges and opportunities within the tourism sector. Drawing upon insights from the National Planning Department and considering both local and global perspectives, the committee drafted the proposed National Tourism Policy.

Following extensive deliberations and careful considerations of the committee’s recommendations, the proposal tabled by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies Minister was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on Monday.

“Implementation of the National Tourism Policy marks a significant milestone for Sri Lanka’s vision of becoming a leading player in the global tourism arena. It promotes inclusive growth, aligning with the global best practices for a sustainable development path for the tourism sector. With a solid plan in place, this will help the industry to have a clear vision of the industry objectives and goals know leading up to 2035,” Tourism Minister Harin Fernando told the Daily FT.

The blueprint was initiated in 2020 with the support of the local and international to develop new strategic plan to build a resilient tourism industry. In November 2021, the former regime called for public views to complete the first draft of the National Tourism Policy blueprint and to implement it by February 2022. However, following political and economic crises Sri Lanka Tourism wanted to adopt a comprehensive and future-oriented strategy that will not hinder industry growth irrespective of administration changes.

Sri Lanka aims to draw 2.3 million tourists and earn over $ 4 billion from tourism this year while setting its sights on increasing arrivals to 5 million and earning an impressive $ 21.6 billion by 2030.

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