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Wednesday, 8 May 2019 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Tourism and Christian Affairs Minister John Amaratunga yesterday assured that the extremist threat has been neutralised, and Sri Lanka is open for travel and business.
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Tourism Minister John Amaratunga |
His confidence stems from security forces revealing that they have dismantled a major part of the network linked to the Easter Sunday bombings, and confiscated bomb-making material.
“Very soon we will launch a global public relations campaign to tell the world that Sri Lanka is now safe for travel and open for business,” Minister Amaratunga told journalists. “The extremist threat has been neutralised by 90%,” he added.
He said that given the improved security situation, and the past two weeks being incidents-free, foreign governments must revise their adverse travel advisories. The tourism sector is concerned that the highlighting of the entire country by such advisories was risky, whereas only Colombo was impacted. “The rest of Sri Lanka and many tourist destinations are safe for holidays,” the Minister emphasised. He said that the Government will be talking to foreign missions in Sri Lanka in this regard.
As a confidence-building measure, the Cabinet yesterday approved in principle a Government-guaranteed travel insurance scheme, specifics of which are yet to be worked out.
Minister Amaratunga said that the hotels and airlines will also launch packages with big discounts to lure tourists, and promotion of Sri Lanka tourism as a safe and attractive destination will continued be via participation in previously planned global travel fairs.
“Sri Lanka tourism can bounce back within a year or earlier. I am very confident,” emphasised Minister Amaratunga.
