The Hon. (Prof.) Ruwan Ranasinghe - Deputy Minister of Tourism
Deputy Minister Ruwan Ranasinghe supported the Regulation under the Shop and Office Employees Act to allow women to work night shifts in food and beverage service within tourism, subject to consent and provision of transport or accommodation between 6.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m. He argued that the measure would help increase women’s participation in Sri Lanka’s tourism workforce, which he said remains far below regional levels, and would support rural youth employment alongside the Rs. 500 million “Hospitality Labour Corps” training initiative. He also cited record tourist arrivals in 2025 and praised coordinated disaster management during Cyclone Michaung, before requesting parliamentary support for the Regulation.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, today is important for tourism as well because this Regulation under the Shop and Office Employees Act has implications for our sector. The Act dates to 1954; in 1974, women could be employed at night in tourism-related roles such as room service, reception and janitorial/cleaning. After 51 years, we are now adding food and beverage service—allowing women to work the night shift in F&B, with safeguards.
¶ 02 Globally, about 54 percent of tourism-related workers are women; in Sri Lanka, only about 10 percent—very low. India is ~40 percent; Vietnam ~79 percent; Thailand ~68 percent; Cambodia ~60 percent. Opening night-shift F&B roles for women, with conditions—explicit consent, and provision of accommodation or transport during 6.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m.—helps address this.
¶ 03 Tourism brands in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and India are strong because of service quality and diversity, which includes workforce diversity. This Regulation is timely. Many in rural Sri Lanka are qualified and waiting to enter tourism; easing regulatory barriers enables career progression. The Budget allocates Rs. 500 million for this year, and with the Samurdhi Department we launched “Hospitality Labour Corps” to train 20,000 low-income rural youth.
¶ 04 Tourist arrivals reached a historic high in 2025: 2,362,521, with 258,928 in December—the highest monthly arrivals on record, a 15 percent increase over 2024, versus global tourism growth of ~3 percent last year. During Cyclone Michaung, coordinated action by our defence, public service, public at large and foreign partners ensured proper disaster management, enabling that December outcome. Around 62,000 tourists were in-country at the time; we even operated the airport with Air Force support when access was flooded, and rescued stranded foreign tourists in landslide areas. I thank all engaged.
¶ 05 For the strength of our economy, I request support for this Regulation under the Shop and Office Employees Act.
¶ 06 Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 9 January 2026 ·No. 23149 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Prof.) Ruwan Ranasinghe - Deputy Minister of Tourism. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 9 January 2026. No. 23149. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/1728