Govt. justifies keeping borders open for tourism

Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Mass Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella

The Government yesterday justified keeping the country’s borders open for tourism amidst the COVID pandemic, saying Sri Lanka badly needed foreign exchange earnings and safe jobs in the industry.

“It is the opinion of the entire world that economies cannot function with closed borders any longer. We are also trying to strike a balance between economic activities and containing the spread of COVID-19,” Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Mass Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said yesterday.

He was responding to a query at the weekly post-Cabinet meeting media briefing as to why the Government was encouraging tourist arrivals amidst the pandemic.

The Minister emphasised the Government was ensuring borders were kept open for tourists subject to health authority guidelines.

“We want to open the country in full to enable people to at least meet their basic needs, but there are certain restrictions due to the spread of the COVID-19. As a responsible Government, we are doing our best to manage the situation and maintain a balance between the economic activities and controlling COVID-19,” Rambukwella added.

He also stressed that earnings from tourism were critical since revenue collection by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), Sri Lanka Customs and Excise Department, had dropped due to subdued economic activity as a result of the pandemic.

According to the Central Bank, tourist arrivals in the first half of this year amounted to 16,908, down by 96.7% from the corresponding period of last year which was 507,311. Earnings from tourism were down by a similar percentage to $ 22.7 million from $ 682 million.