‘Matching grants scheme for tourism SMEs’ awareness program held in Tangalle

The Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) in collaboration with the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism (ASMET) Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Economic Development organised an awareness program for ‘The Sustainable Tourism Development Project (STDP) – Matching Grants Scheme for SMEs in Tourism’, on 27 May 2013 in Tangalle.

Resource persons from People’s Bank and the SWITCH-Asia Project also participated in this to educate SMEs on how to qualify and benefit from this scheme for the improvement of their businesses, while adding value to the Sri Lankan tourism industry as a whole.

Dedicated towards making Sri Lanka the ‘Wonder of Asia’, the Ministry of Economic Development has been implementing many projects under the ‘Mahinda Chinthana Vision for Future’ manifesto, to strengthen the tourism economy and to achieve a poverty-free Sri Lanka. The Sustainable Tourism Development Project is aimed at providing matching grants of up to Rs. 10 million, for the exclusive benefit of tourism related small and medium enterprises.

A.B.M. Ashraff, Director, Tourism, Private Sector Development and the Sustainable Tourism Development Project of the Ministry of Economic Development, Manager of the People’s Bank, Tangalle, Sameera, Project Manager, SME unit of the Peoples Bank, Tangalle, Suresh de Mel, President, ASMET and Director, HDCC, several members of ASMET’s Executive Committee, Ganesha Siriwardana, Chairman, Deepsouth Tourism Development Committee, and over 50 local SMEs participated in this initiative.

Suresh de Mel and Ganesha Siriwardene encouraged local SMEs to join the associations ASMET and/or HDCC in order to learn how to benefit from projects like this, to network with other members, and to learn about best practices of the industry. They both concluded that projects of this nature were vital to formalise the informal sector and to empower the SME sector in Sri Lanka tourism, and thanked the Government for the opportunity given.