Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2021-04-05

Repealing the Tourism Act No 38 of 2005 and enacting a New Tourism Act

- The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and the Sri Lanka Institution of Tourism and Hotel Management were established, having divided the entire tourism sector into four major entities in terms of the provisions of the Tourism Act No 38 of 2005. However, due to the tourism sector being separated into 4 entitiess, it is observed that there have been negative impacts such as delays in coordinating relevant entities and wastage of resources etc. Therefore, the Cabinet approved the proposal made by the Minister of Tourism to repeal the Tourism Act No 38 of 2005 and to draft a bill to enact a New Tourism Act in order to ensure the sustainable development of the Tourism industry thereby taking necessary action to establish a new authority by the name of “Sri Lanka Tourism Authority” having confederated the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau.