NPP Govt. will boost tourism industry to attract four million tourists a year: AKD

Colombo, September 13 (Daily Mirror)- A National People's Power (NPP) government will take immediate measures to uplift the economy initially where steps will be taken to boost the tourism industry to attract four million tourists to the country per year, NPP presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake said today.

Addressing a rally in Monaragala, he said areas such as the tourism industry, fisheries industry, IT industry and agricultural sector have been identified as areas which can be developed as immediate measures to revive the economy.

"The tourism industry can be developed as an immediate measure to uplift the economy. The maximum tourist arrival to Sri Lanka is only 2.3 million within a year. We will boost the industry to attract four million tourists per year. There are 400 million middle-class people in India and in China, 120 million people go out of the country as tourists annually. Sri Lanka is located in a strategically important location. We have good beaches, central hills, wildlife zones, good civilisation, and ancient inheritance which are ideal for tourism," he said.

Dissanayake said the fisheries industry will also be developed as an immediate measure, where action will be taken to support the fishermen to venture into the sea for fishing within two weeks after taking over the country. "Most of the fishing boats are anchored in harbours without going to sea. It is not profitable for them to engage in their industry due to the high costs," he said.

He also said the NPP government will take immediate measures to uplift the IT sector to a record Rs. 5 billion economy while creating 200,000 software engineers.

Dissanayake said the NPP government will focus on a production economy, claiming that the past rulers had collapsed all production in the country, encouraging imports.

"They collapsed all productions in the country. It is advantageous for them to import everything. A commission of Rs. 8 has been taken to import an egg. If 10 million eggs were imported, the commission is Rs. 80 million. If eggs were produced in the country, it is beneficial for the country, if eggs were imported, the minister is benefitted," he said.

Dissanayake said Sri Lanka exported coconut oil through BCC and said special tanks were built in the port to store coconut oil for export adding that those tanks are now used to store imported coconut oil for distribution. "Now, they prefer to import coconut oil. They have earned Rs. 3,500 million as commission by importing coconut oil. Almost everything that can be produced in Sri Lanka is imported now. Even kankun, chilli, rice, onion etc. are imported," he said.

He said NPP government will promote a production economy and pointed out that agricultural lands will be leased out to farmers instead of large-scale companies.

"We will stop providing lands to large-scale companies, we will provide them to farmers. We need to cultivate an additional season," he said.