18 February 2021 10:26 am
The Government has paid attention to give priority to the personnel engaged in the tourism sector such as hotel employees, tour guides and drivers under the ongoing COVID vaccination programme.
It was discussed during a meeting between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and representatives of the tourism sector held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.
The President said the Government has taken every possible measure to provide all required facilities despite the health related restrictions imposed to ensure safety of the public and called on the entrepreneurs of the field to get ready to embark on a new journey by overcoming challenges.
It was stated during the discussion that there is no requirement to quarantine service providers when the tourists are not tested positive.
A decision was taken to shuttle the infected tourists to the hospital in Koggala managed by Lanka Hospital (Pvt) Limited and Sri Lanka Army. President instructed officials to pay due attention to direct the tourists as per the approved tourism plan.
The President advised the relevant officials to make necessary measures to improve facilities for tourists and to take into account the comments made by them when they depart to their respective countries.
The entrepreneurs stated that they will take all steps possible to achieve future goals under proper strategies as the government has already provided necessary reliefs.
During the discussion it was revealed that according to the figures, the percentage of COVID-19 infected tourists, who arrived in the country during the outbreak, is less than 1%.