SLTDA fully digitalises hotel licensing process

By Skandha Gunasekara

Licensing of hotels and other tourism-related establishments with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority has been completely digitised, while physical registration has been discontinued to expedite the process.

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority Director Udana Wickremesinghe told Daily FT the initiative to discontinue the service of customers personally visiting the SLTDA office to register or renew licenses was taken at the beginning of last month. 

“The earlier process was far more time consuming and required having to visit the SLTDA headquarters itself to register. The digitised system is far quicker. Now hoteliers do not need to personally come to the SLTDA office to register but can register online from wherever they are, especially if they are based in remote areas of the country,” he said. 

Wickremesinghe noted that whereas the earlier method of registration took several days to complete, the automated system would ensure that SLTDA services were provided in an efficient manner, requiring customers to spend the minimum amount of time procuring approval, renewing registrations and licensing. 

The SLTDA introduced the new online registration service from the beginning of April this year, giving five months notice to the industry of its move to go fully digital.  At present, over 6,000 establishments have registered with the SLTDA, including star class hotels, guest houses, travel agents, restaurants, home stays, bungalows, boat operators, tour guides, chauffeur guides, jeep operators, etc., with a total of 35,000 rooms. Some 22,336 rooms were booked in 2016 alone, according to SLTDA statistics.