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SLTDA dangles carrot to ‘formalise’ tourism

12 Jul 2020

  • Licensing regulations relaxed
  • Accommodation providers and travel agents targeted
By Uwin Lugoda The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) plans to incentivise the local informal tourism sector, which currently constitutes the major portion of the industry, towards formalisation using the Covid-19 relief measures. According to SLTDA Director General Dhammika Wijesinghe, they plan on using the relief measures together with relaxed licensing regulations to attract the informal accommodation segment and travel agencies towards registering with the SLTDA. The SLTDA estimates that the informal sector currently accounts for over 60% of the tourism industry, which deprives the Government of much-needed tax revenue and prevents any quality control by it. Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, she stated that the formalisation of tourism industry segments, such as accommodation, have formerly been met with road blocks in the form of land issues, due to registration requiring stakeholders to present title deeds or leases. She explained that in certain areas like Dambulla and Galle Fort, most of the lands do not belong to these stakeholders and therefore, they have not been able to register with the SLTDA. As such, with regard to accommodation providers, Wijesinghe stated that the SLTDA is working on reducing the requirements so that these accommodation providers can register their businesses, after providing the necessary documentation, without having to hold any deeds to the land. “When you look at areas like Dambulla, most of the land there is owned by the five temples in the area. So what we are suggesting is that the business owners bring us a letter issued by the respective temples, grama niladharis, or municipal and urban councils, together with the business registration and trade licenses, to prove that they are allowed to conduct business there and have been doing it for a while.” As for inbound tour agents, the requirement of having a permanent address has been waived off and the SLTDA is also planning to reduce the strict requirements as far as office space is concerned. She explained that previously, they required the office spaces to have 250 sq. m spaces, with couches, fax machines, and printed brochures. However, in the current situation, she stated that all inbound tour operators need to do is guarantee that they will not abandon their tourists, and will provide the necessary service, insurance, e-brochures, and suitable communication facilities. Wijesinghe stated that they plan to offer these new professional licenses for six months for a reduced price, during which time they will monitor the applicants and decide whether they will be made permanent. “If they somehow defaulted or did something wrong, we will discontinue that license. However, if they perform well, we will permanently register them. We have also waived off the renewal fees for next year for those who register permanently,” she added. Wijesinghe stated that they have already received some applications from the informal sector via their web portal, and are awaiting board approval within this month, in order to implement these new relaxations. Similar to the current Covid relief measures, last year the SLTDA offered its registered members relief measures following the Easter Sunday attacks. This led to a surge in applicants, with the SLTDA receiving 1,326 applications from the informal sector from May to August 2019, and had processed 1,010 within that period. Furthermore, Wijesinghe stated that they are working very closely with the provincial councils and the various provincial authorities and boards related to tourism in tourist-driven areas such as the Central, Uva, and North Central provinces, to establish units to capture the informal sector. She went on to state that the Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism S. Hettiarachchi has already written to all the governors of these regions, with some already giving them spaces to establish these units.


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