UNDP, SLTDA kick off e-survey to draft Sri Lanka’s National Tourism Policy
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) have reportedly launched an e-survey to engage stakeholders towards formulating a National Tourism Policy.
The multi-lingual survey is aimed at the private and public stakeholders, as well as civil society, with the objective of identifying major points of agreement and disagreement, to facilitate the process of conciliation and validation of the major orientations of the future public tourism policy, according to local media reports.
This is part of the national roadmap being developed collaboratively by the UNDP, SLTDA, other UN agencies, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and World Tourism Organization (WTO), development partners such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Union (EU), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Australia and other key stakeholders, reports further noted.
The e-survey (the English version is accessible via http://bit.ly/NTPSL_E) includes questions relating to policy objectives, structures, roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders in the tourism value chain in Sri Lanka.
Industry sources said the National Tourism Policy is intended to catalyse the development of a framework to support the development of a new strategic plan and vision for tourism 2021-2024 and the focus is on ‘Putting People First: Building a More Resilient Tourism Sector in Sri Lanka,’ the Daily FT has reported.
The policy will comprise a set of rules, regulations, guidelines, directives, objectives and development/promotion strategies, which provide a framework for collective and individual decisions directly affecting long-term tourism development and daily activities within a destination.
Tourism is a vital economic sector for Sri Lanka, accounting for 5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), directly employing 250,000 and indirectly up to two million persons. It is one of the worst impacted socio-economic sectors from the COVID-19 pandemic.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities are working hard to promote the country’s tourism industry as well as promote the island as the region’s main tourism destination. Sri Lanka’s tourism industry was one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the country until the Covid 19 pandemic brought about restrictions in global travel. However, with Sri Lanka’s borders reopening early this year, there was an increase in foreign visitors to the country. Also, Sri Lanka’s positioning as a business destination in the South Asian region has also increased the country’s attraction as a travel destination, especially for business travellers. Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is once again on the path to recovery showing potential business/investment opportunities in the tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20210524/Z_1 |