Tourism and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga expressed hope that Sri Lanka could get as much as three million tourist arrivals by the end of this year. By end of March, tourist arrivals grew by 25% despite the communal clashes, which took place in several places in the country.

The Minister made these comments speaking at a ceremony to award certificates for 18 tourist friendly eating places in Galle. The event was held at Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, Colombo. Noting that sustainability of the industry is high unlike any other industry in the country, the Minister stressed the need to maximize the income from the tourism industry and to increase the number of tourist arrivals .To this end, the Minister pointed out that it is essential to offer quality services and products to cater to the needs of both local and foreign tourists.

Furthermore, the Minister stated that to facilitate and attract more tourists into the country, domestic airports are also being opened up and renovated. Meanwhile, Kavan Ratnayake, Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority speaking at the event stated that plans are underway to introduce a tourism friendly scheme initially for major categories such as Tuk Tuk drivers, tourist friendly eating places and home stay accommodation. It has also been proposed to introduce a common logo to tourist friendly places to create awareness among the tourists from the airport itself. “We’re trying to introduce a logo which tourists will become familiar from the time, they apply for the visa. We will start communications with them and start branding this logo right from the airport.

People will automatically look at this logo, as a safety mark and tourists will be naturally attracted to places with this mark.” Ratnayake stated. Tourism Development Authority commenced the fourth phase of the project called, ‘Certification scheme for tourist friendly easting places in Galle’ to recongise , upgrade the quality standards of eating places and to provide clean , safe and hygienic food for foreign and local tourists. Under the first phase of the project, Sri Lanka tourism has certified 66 eating places in Colombo Municipal council area and under the second phase of the project, 18 eating places in Kandy Municipal area were received certifications.

According to Sri Lanka Tourism, the main objectives of the project include upgrading the basic standards of eating places in tourist zones, make awareness regarding the necessity of providing standard food, services in all eating places in the country and to encourage them to upgrade the service standards of all eating places in the country in par with international standards and to create competition among similar eating places in selected areas and encouraging them to upgrade and to obtain the certification. Under this project, two types of certification are granted in these places with ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades.