Colombo (The Island) - Authorities of Sri Lanka Tourism are working to set up a US $ 100 million insurance fund to provide insurance cover for foreign tourists visiting Sri Lanka.
According to Minister of Tourism Development John Amaratunga this tourism insurance scheme would be offered with the state-owned Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC), which has in its possession a life insurance fund of Rs. 74 billion and an asset base of Rs. 161 billion.
"Due to adverse travel advisories on Sri Lanka by 38 countries post-Easter Sunday attacks, tourists who visit Sri Lanka are not eligible to receive insurance from their respective countries, so we have decided to launch a special insurance scheme in the event of any calamity to pay compensation claims to foreign tourists from US$ 100,000-250,000," the minister said.
"The security forces have given a guarantee that the threat of terrorism has now been neutralized and Sri Lanka is a safe place to travel. We see around 2,000 tourists visiting Sri Lanka on a daily basis. We are presenting these facts to foreign embassies in order to convince them to tone down their adverse travel advisories on Sri Lanka", he explained.
Several MICE events planned in Sri Lanka will be held this year and Sri Lanka Tourism will participate in 38 international travel fairs and 18 road shows in 2019 to boost the image of Sri Lanka Tourism, according to the minister.
Amaratunga thanked both president, Universal Federation of Travel Agents Associations (UFTAA) Sunil Kumar and chairman, Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka (TAASL) Trevor Rajaratnam for showing solidarity with Sri Lanka Tourism by advancing the hosting of their high profile AGM in Sri Lanka.
UFTAA, president, Sunil Kumar said,"Usually we hold this AGM in end August but we have advanced it to June on a request made by the industry stakeholders to clearly show that Sri Lanka is a safe destnation to visit".
Representatives of over 30 countries will attend this event and notably it is being planned to be held at one of the three hotels affected by the Easter Sunday attacks.
Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau /Tourism Development Authority Kishu Gomes, said that he was happy with the current security situation in the country and felt assured that there would be no more coordinated attacks by terrorists in Sri Lanka. "The hosting of the UFTAA AGM in Colombo will send a strong message to the world in terms of its security environment and that Sri Lanka Tourism is well equipped and prepared to take care of its foreign guests," he said.
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