Issuing of licenses to tourist drivers streamlined

Certificates and driving licenses were distributed last week among 250 tourist drivers who were trained by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) under the direction of the Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

They belong to the 11th batch to be trained for meeting the transport requirements of the increasing number of tourists arriving in Sri Lanka. Already the SLTDA has trained around 1800 drivers from various parts of the country. The trained drivers are members of the All Ceylon Tourist Drivers Association. This is one of several programs Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa has launched to provide foreign tourists with a quality service.

These have been launched under infrastructure development to boost tourism. Accordingly, the SLTDA has decided to provide tourism regions with beach cleaning equipment, diving equipment and life saving equipment as well as provide training in life-saving.

In addition the SLDTA has taken steps to build tourism shopping centres in the Bentota, Beruwala, Hikkaduwa, Kalutara, Negombo and Pasikuda under the minister’s guidance.

At present Sri Lanka has six tourism regions – Bentota, Kalpitiya, and Pasikuda in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Kuchchuweli, Vakaray and Yala. The SLTDA has modernised tourism regions in the North and East to make them attractive to visitors.

The number of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka last year was 1 million while this year the number is expected to reach 1.2 million.

The Government’s target for 2016 is 2.5 million tourists.

SLTDA Chairman Bhashwara Gunarathna, Director-General Dr. DS Jayaweera and Director (Domestic Tourism & Resorts) Mihiri Liyanarachchi were among the large crowd present at the meeting where certificates and licenses were awarded to the drivers.