Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Minister launches one day license renewal programme
Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga has announced the launch of one-day license renewal to tourism service providers by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA).
The main objective of the initiative is to facilitate the renewal of licenses much faster, which is an annual requirement, and to deliver enhanced satisfaction to the tourism service providers.
“SLTDA is now fully geared to issue renewals for accommodation and service providers in one day once the relevant documents for each category are submitted,” Minister John Amaratunga has told journalists on Wednesday (4).
The Minister has noted that this initiative would enable an effective service in issuing annual licenses to over 5,000 registered establishments around the country.
“Issuance of license was considered a tedious, time-consuming task for many service providers, which we often received complaints. With this new system our service providers can now obtain their license within a day,” Amaratunga has been quoted as saying.
The Minister has further noted that four teams have been assigned to inspect the relevant establishments prior to their expiry date of the license, so that when they apply with all documents, SLTDA would have the information to issue license.
SLTDA Chairman Johanne Jayaratne has told the media that the Standard and Quality Assurance Division of the SLTDA was now fully operational on providing license renewals within a day.
“We are looking at a complete automation of the process by the division at the end of the month where the only human involvement would be the site inspection of the property,” Jayaratne has added.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities are engaged in continuous upgrading programmes to ensure that the country’s tourism industry is on par with international standards. The country’s tourism stakeholders as well as the foreign travellers visiting the island are provided with the best facilities and able to carry out official work with ease. Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is on a continuous growth with tourist arrivals to the country recording month on month growth despite the setback suffered in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks in April. Sri Lanka continues to maintain the top slot as the destination of the year in several key global travel publications. All this has resulted in the expansion of business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/05092019/Z_1 |