SLTDA requests CB to provide new relief for tourism

• The request is in addition to extended debt moratorium and concessionary working capital 

The battered tourism industry renewed its call for assistance yesterday with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) urging the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to offer further relief until some form of revival can be witnessed.

Responding to the industry’s repeated call for help, SLTDA yesterday stressed the need for new relief measures at the earliest.

SLTDA said that with the third wave of the pandemic severely affecting the tourism sector, a request for new relief has been put forward to the CBSL. 

The request is in addition to the extended debt moratorium from banks and finance companies, and the concessionary working capital that was arranged in 2020/2021.

“In order to extend support, Sri Lanka Tourism is further requesting the Central Bank to write-off outstanding debts or interest waivers in order to sustain stakeholders who would otherwise have to shut down operations in the absence of tourists,” SLTDA said in a statement to the media yesterday.

The statement stressed that SLTDA will continue to stand by industry stakeholders and assist those who are “gravely affected” by the pandemic. 

To cushion the struggling sector from negative economic implications stemming from the pandemic, SLTDA together with other key agencies, were successful in securing VAT exemptions for tourism, which enabled the sector to be classified as an export industry.

The industry was also offered a 12-month instalment facility for utility payments and six-months grace period for vehicle lease rentals; provisional registration for informal sector; loan and refinancing schemes to the value of Rs.150 billion for affected industries, and an island wide training for tourist drivers by inking an MoU with the Vocational Training Authority (VTA).

Furthermore, the SLTDA paved the way for existing accommodations to be converted into ‘Safe & Secure” Level 1 and Level 2 hotels, and Intermediary Care Centers.

Liquor license fee too was waived off for 2021, whereas the validity period of licenses of all tourism establishments, and Tour Guides registered with the SLTDA, have been extended till 31 December 2021.

Meanwhile, efforts are currently underway to ensure all employees of the industry are vaccinated by October as part of the concentrated and systemic vaccination drive carried out by the government.