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By Charumini de Silva
Promotion of sports tourism will go before the Cabinet soon, as a fresh proposal to revive both travel and sports sectors that were hampered by COVID-19 pandemic.
Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga will present to Cabinet the case to promote sports tourism in Sri Lanka for next year, in a joint Cabinet paper along with the Sports and Health Ministries.
Following the successful conclusion of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), the Ministries of Tourism, Sports and Health have agreed to formulate a joint program to promote sports tourism with a comprehensive event calendar for next year.
Accordingly, a high level committee consisting of the Secretaries of the three Ministries have been appointed to prepare a comprehensive report within two weeks to incorporate sports events into Sri Lanka Tourism event calendar.
This is following a meeting of top level tourism, sports and health sector officials with Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga along with Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Ministry Secretaries held early this week.
During the meeting the Tourism Minister pointed out the need to implement this program without being bound by rules and regulations.
“Promotion of sports tourism will provide the right impetus to revive the industry post-pandemic. The joint promotion will also help us to position ourselves on the world map again and achieve the targets of the tourism sector to actively contribute to economic development in the next year,” Ranatunga told the Daily FT.
He also said that sports-based tourism was one of the most sought after ways in which to attract tourists in the world today.
With the experience gained from the LPL tournament as well as with the recommendations of the Health officials, Rajapaksa said Tourism and Sports Ministries hoped to formulate an integrated plan to promote sports tourism in the country.
He said that the Sports Ministry had already prepared an annual sports diary and would implement it with the assistance of the Tourism Ministry in accordance with the health guidelines.
He said that international level sports competitions would be organised island-wide next year to attract tourists, subject to strict health guidelines.
“There are 80 major sports tournaments lined up to be held globally next year and we are also eyeing on several events to be held in Sri Lanka,” Rajapaksa added.
The sports tournaments to be held in Sri Lanka next year include cricket, football, rugby, kabadi, beach volleyball and netball. In addition to the Asia Cup, cricket teams from England, Bangladesh, India and South Africa will tour Sri Lanka in 2021.
The Health Minister assured to provide all necessary guidelines and facilities to conduct the events.
Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando told the Daily FT that they hoped to launch an all-inclusive event calendar for the first time in history, which would comprise cultural, sports, pilgrimage and festival events.
She said that they hoped to incorporate events as the country opens for international travellers in a gradual manner.
“Sports has been a great partner for tourism in the country. The sportsmen not only market the destination, but also enjoy the destination as great tourists. Along with the touring sportsmen comes a considerable volume of supporters, which makes it interesting at this time to promote sports tourism,” Fernando added.
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) data depicted the dismal ‘0’ for tourist arrivals in the months of April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November. Zero figure for nine consecutive months has forced the first 11-month cumulative tourist arrivals number to reflect a drastic 69.7% plunge compared to 1.7 million recorded for the same period a year earlier — a direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The historic development is in view of Sri Lankan borders closed for tourists, a move applied by most countries in line with measures to stem the spread of the COVID-19. The Government terminated the arrival of all passenger flights and ships into Sri Lanka from 18 March.
The sports officials further expressed their intention to hold the T10 Cricket League, Super Ceylon Soccer League, Kabaddi League and Rugby 7s Regional in the first half of 2021.
