Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO), the Apex Body, representing the Destination Management Companies (DMC) industry in Sri Lanka held its 44^th AGM last Friday at Heritance Ahungalla.   Mr. Nalin Jayasundara, Managing Director of Aitken Spence Travels was unanimously elected as the SLAITO President at the AGM.

The SLAITO, formally known as the Association of Group Tour Agents (AGTA), was established in 1975 is an approved association of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. SLAITO consists of over 200 DMCs in the formal  tourism sector and destination management companies.

SLAITO plays an integral role in all important private sector decision-making forums and has representations on the governing boards of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), Sri Lanka Institute of Tourist Hotel Management (SLITHM) and Tourism Industry Skills Council.

The event was attended by Mr. Buddhika Hewawasam, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Development authority and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and Mr. Dheera Hettiarachchi, Chairman, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management, Presidents of Tourism associations; THASL, SLAPCEO, ASMET, tourism authorities and members of SLAITO.

The following office bearers were elected at the SLAITO Annual General Meeting for the year 2024/2025: Mr. Nalin Jayasundera of Aitken Spence Travels (Pvt.) Ltd., – President, Mr. Nishad Wijetunga of Wayfarers Ltd – Immediate Past President, Mrs. Bobby Jordan Hansen of Columbus Tours (Pvt.) Ltd – Vice President, Ms. Gayangi Wirasinha of Abercrombie & Kent (Pvt.) Ltd – Vice President, Mr. Charith de Alwis of Tangerine Tours (Pvt.) Ltd and Mr. Nalaka Amaratunga of Walkers Tours Ltd – Hony. Secretary.

In his inaugural speech, Mr. Nalin Jayasundera stated that SLAITO members are responsible for generating more than 70% of tourist arrivals in the formal tourism sector and spend over Rs. 2 billion per annum for global destination promotions in addition to the TDL contribution. He welcomed the government’s decision to recognize the private sector driven tourism industry as a priority industry and pledged the support of SLAITO  to achieve the Government’s target of 4 million tourist arrivals with a revenue of US Dollars 9 billion by year 2030. He insisted on the immediate launch of the global tourism marketing campaign and the completion of important infrastructure development projects such as the airport expansion and the Colombo-Kandy highway.

He highlighted the importance of creating a level playing field for all tourism stakeholders by regulating and facilitating the activities of all enterprises involved in tourism, all the line ministries working together with cohesion and better understating, introducing sustainable best practices and formulating strategies to address the human resource issue related to tourism to ensure benefits from tourism for the national economy.

He stated that we have to get our marketing right, if not Sri Lanka will be the best kept secret in world tourism. To create the demand, it is important  to work together with the foreign tour operators, the national carrier and other airlines, our diplomatic missions too have a major role to play. SLAITO is confident  of working together with all stakeholders to achieve the arrival and revenue targets  prior to 2030 and make tourism the Number One foreign exchange earner for the country.