New Tourism Law in House

by Anjana Gamage

Foreign Affairs and Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike will present the new Tourism Law in Parliament today.

This Bill was initiated by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1994 and substantial work had been done by the PA and subsequent UNP Governments.

Bandaranaike, since becoming Tourism Minister in April 2004, had worked hard to finalise the new Law which has been long awaited specially by the private sector, a Tourism Ministry release said. Meanwhile, Bandaranaike will visit the Republic of Maldives from October 19 to 20.

He will have bilateral talks with President Abdul Gayoom and Foreign Minister Dr. Ahamed Shaheed. He will discuss with Dr. Shaheed regarding working together to offer a joint package to tourists visiting Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

"The discussions will centre on joint venture tourism and promotional ventures extending to region-wise tourism and to find new ways and means to upgrade commercial tourism making Maldives and Sri Lankan a tourism hub in the South Asia," Tourism sources said.

This will be the first time that such a package will be worked out between the two island states. Maldives has proven its tourism potential with over 600,000 tourist arrivals in 2004 alone.

Sri Lanka too gets around 500,000 tourists per year. Minister Bandaranaike will be assisted by officials of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Tourism.

During the SAARC Tourism Ministers' meeting on July 29 in Colombo, all tourism ministers pledged to work collectively and promote regional tourism.