Hon. (Prof.) Ruwan Ranasinghe

¶ 01 I must especially emphasize this. When formulating the tourism policy, we engaged businesspeople from all sectors and levels in the country. We know tourism is a highly organized industry. From a tuk-tuk driver, a tour guide, a vendor selling a king coconut to a tourist, to those operating major airlines and large companies bringing tourists to Sri Lanka — people working across this spectrum are in the field. As a government, we have a duty to build a tourism industry that represents them all.

¶ 02 As I said at the outset, for so long a certain business cohort drove what operated in this country — projects and mechanisms that prioritized what that cohort needed to push their businesses forward. In contrast, the National People’s Power proposes a participatory and sustainable tourism economy. By “participatory”, we mean incorporating all groups in our country — people at different economic levels and from all communities — into the tourism economy as much as possible. We also propose a sustainable tourism industry. In the current context, if we take examples like Yala National Park or dolphin watching in Mirissa, many activities as they currently operate cannot be envisaged to continue long-term at today’s levels. Therefore, we believe a sustainable approach is essential — making use of our cultural and national heritage and natural resources while protecting them for future generations. That principle is clearly articulated in the NPP’s tourism policy.

¶ 03 People engaged in this sector have already faced various challenges. We know several businesses have been moving our tourism sector forward. Small operators have qualified and obtained licenses for tourist transport. But with the entry of large businesses, many small players have lost the opportunity to continue their livelihoods and operations.

¶ 04 Mr. Speaker, to emerge from our economic bankruptcy, in the short term we can and should derive major foreign exchange through tourism. Accordingly, by the end of 2024 we expect over two million tourist arrivals, targeting USD 3 billion in foreign exchange. Next year, in 2025, we plan to increase arrivals to 5 million and reach USD 5 billion in revenue. Through implementing our tourism policy and the projects we propose, we will conduct a nation branding campaign. By 2030, we plan to attract 5 million tourists annually and build a USD 10 billion tourism economy.

¶ 05 To achieve this, we must take Sri Lanka to the international stage — bringing our unique natural assets and cultural heritage to the world. However, tourism promotion has unfortunately been chaotic here. Few countries in the region have changed their destination image and branding campaigns as frequently as Sri Lanka. The last government introduced “You Will Come Back for More” as a new project. Compare that with India, which has consistently used “Incredible India” for over 15 years. Post-independence we used “Tropical Island”, then “A Land Like No Other”, followed by “So Sri Lanka”, “Miracle of Asia”, and “Refreshingly Sri Lanka”. Despite no need, tens of millions of rupees were spent last year to launch yet another new theme, “You Will Come Back for More” — a waste of public funds. In our view, the primary purpose was not to increase tourist attraction but to use public money to support business interests of friends.

¶ 06 Instead, our tourism policy proposes a nation branding campaign that unifies all sectors — gems, tea, cultural heritage, and natural assets linked to tourism — into a single national brand effort to reach our 2030 targets. Implementing this requires strategic changes and amendments to the Tourism Act, which we have already proposed. As I said, this industry is highly organized, with many institutions involved; it is not something the Ministry of Tourism or the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority can or should do alone.

¶ 07 Many institutions intersect with tourism — land resources, the Department of Wildlife Conservation, and the Central Cultural Fund among others. To move tourism forward methodically, we propose a centralized operations committee that integrates these institutions.

¶ 08 We are also aware of the situation at the national carrier. Countries like Thailand used their national airlines strategically to elevate their tourism globally. In contrast, successive governments saddled our national carrier with unsustainable debt and misuse, even allowing family and associates to use aircraft as they pleased. The NPP government, upon coming to power, made a clear decision: not to sell the national carrier outright, but to study comprehensively and restructure it. We will deploy aircraft to routes that can attract tourists and support arrivals.

¶ 09 We also understand the attraction of cruise tourism. Sri Lanka is an ideal island for it. We have prepared plans focusing on neglected attractions that no government had properly prioritized.

¶ 10 The majority of our people have entrusted us with the responsibility to replace corrupt political culture with a better one and to build a prosperous country and dignified lives through a participatory economy. The President has presented such plans for tourism in our national policy declaration. We are committed to implementing that policy as presented.

¶ 11 Thank you very much.