India, Sri Lanka to strengthen cooperation in tourism sector

India and Sri Lanka today agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector and also to exchange information and expertise on urban poverty alleviation programmes.

This was agreed to at a meeting here today between visiting Sri Lankan Minister for Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa and Minister for Tourism and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja.

An official press release said Ms Selja expressed happiness over the fact that India received a sizable number of tourists from Sri Lanka and that the Buddhist sites in the country were their most favoured destinations.

She suggested both countries could cooperate in the field of human resource development, destination management and promotion in the tourism sector. She also called for stronger linkages between various stakeholders such as travel and tour operators and hoteliers in the two countries.

Ms Selja said both the countries could undertake joint promotion and marketing to increase the tourist arrivals in the region. She stressed the need to promote intra-regional tourism. She also proposed joint meetings between the two countries at official and stakeholders' levels.

The Minister said there was need for better packagig of South Asian tourist destinations to the outside world. She felt the two countries could promote cruise tourism jointly.

Mr Rajapaksa also evinced keen interest in the Government of India's housing and urban poverty alleviation programmes. Ms Selja gave details about initiatives such as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and the Rajiv Awas Yojana, which is aimed at making India a slum free country.

The Sri Lankan Minister said both countries had to cope with growing urbanisation and could exchange information on matters relating to slum development and street vending management to make life better for the urban poor.

NNN