Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed Miss Earth Jamie Harrel on the World Environment Day. 

The board of directors of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) Vasantha Leelananda, Mahen Kariyawasam, Tissa Devindra, Asoka Hettigoda, Amal Gunatileka together with Chairman Rohantha Athukorala shared with Harrel the key actions that Sri Lanka Tourism is taking as the world celebrated the Environment Day on June 5, 2015.

Athukorala mentioned that even though there had been a spike of 11 places in the Global Tourism Index, Sri Lanka’s performance in the environment sustainability pillar in the year 2015 is at a low ebb of 103, given that on an attribute like forest cover, Sri Lanka dropped from 54 percent to 29 percent in the last two decades, which is very serious. 

Harrel commended the landmark project ‘One million tree stories’ by Rotary Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Tourism together with Hatton National Bank (HNB), as she planted the 500,000th tree sampling at the Sri Lanka Tourism premises amidst the environmental sustainability team of the SLTPB.  

Athukorala explained to Miss Earth how the cumulative tourist arrivals in the first five months of the year had increased by 14.5 percent to 714,584 compared to the corresponding period of 2014 but how the Tourism Ministry is balancing the growth in the numbers together with responsible environment management so that Sri Lanka continues to protect the treasures of Sri Lanka, be it the pristine beaches and wildlife, not forgetting the rich cultural heritage.