Australian Deputy HC launches ‘Welcome Back Better’ campaign

The Australian Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and Maldives Lalita Kapur launched the ‘Welcome Back Better’ campaign in Colombo aimed at attracting more tourists to Sri Lanka, reopening closed tourist ventures and also to woo back staff to the industry.

This is an initiative of Skills for Inclusive Growth program, (S4IG) a project of the Australian Government in Sri Lanka which began in 2021 and runs up to 2030. S4IG is also supporting the government in ensuring greater participation of female workers in the industry and improving access to training and jobs for people with disabilities.

Australian Deputy High Commissioner, Lalita Kapur, said that Australia’s support for tourism recovery will continue and work to support quality, relevant, and inclusive skills development that meets industry needs and provides employment opportunities for the diverse communities in Sri Lanka. This will also help the Industry to bring back high quality training ensuring that the workforce be more professional which will help to cater to increase visitor flows across Sri Lanka especially in the country’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises that are engaged in it.

“Welcome Back Better’ program will help to bring back better visitors and generate revenues and incomes for Sri Lankans.” The Welcome Back Better with Skills for Inclusive Growth exhibition too was held to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Sri Lankan and Australian government cooperation.

On display were innovative skills models prototyped and tested by industry partners that are now available for national implementation and have been adopted by key government and private sector stakeholders. Training materials, including high-quality self-study training videos developed by S4IG, were also showcased.