Leisure sector upbeat over soft liquor license initiative

The Leisure sector hailed the decision by the government to allow soft liquor (wine and beer) to be offered in their institutions in tourism zones sans any complicated and expensive licensing.

President of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism, Sri Lanka (ASMET), M. B. Jayarathna said the decision to grant soft liquor licenses to tourism stakeholders was a step in the right direction. He said a major hassle that the tourism industry especially SMEs faced was to obtain a license to sell liquor to tourists and with this initiative the government would also be able to to generate an additional income. He said the credit should be given to President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Tourism Minister Harin Fernando for expediting the process.

Jayaratne said guest houses, restaurants, hotels and home-stay facilities at tourism zones would benefit immensely by this move and in the future be able to indulge in their trade comfortably.

Jayaratna said this facility should also be made available to all parties involved in the hospitality trade irrespective of whether they were registered with SLTDA. He said the tourism industry which was limited to Colombo and a few main cities had now reached the village. However the problem that SMEs faced was the inability for them to register in statutory bodies such as SLTDA and a few large scale businessmen held a monopoly over affairs utilizing some draconian laws.

Jayarathna said therefore bringing in the new Tourism Act was a necessity.

He said it was important to produce liquor required for tourism locally and liquor should be produced as a national industry using 100% local inputs which were abundantly available in the country. Jayaratna said by providing liquor to tourists under license the government can earn more excise revenue and it will also lead to minimizing the illegal sale of liquor in the leisure sector. He said serious consideration should also be given in reducing the price of liquor which has risen to exorbitant heights taking it beyond the reach of the common man.

Meanwhile, Chairman Unavatuna SME Tourist Hotels Rupasena Koswattege said that they have around 1,000 restaurants, mini hotels and homestays offering around 5,000 rooms and we are all very thankful to Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando for initiating the project. “Several tourist ministers tried to implement this on several occasions but they failed.”

He said that this move will give a small ‘boost’ to the aligning tourism industry and that registration process and the stamping fees will cost around Rs. 50,000 but the SME sector is ready to pay this.

Meanwhile a mini restaurant owner from Polhena Matara said that they didn’t come under any tourism zones and hence they are unable to enjoy this benefit.

“We need to apply and register but still we are ready to do this since the harassment by police and Excise Department officers who carry on regular raids are more menacing to our business.