The Vice President of the Chauffeur Tourist Guide Lecturers said that at the beginning of the Travel bubble project, the government was expecting patients from tourists and had made arrangements for that.
He further stated that information regarding this was discussed at a discussion held with the Minister of Tourism on the 31st.
He said the first tour guide to be infected covid was also a member of the association, , and that his organization regrets the shortfall in the arrival of this small number of tourists if it had been able to control the arrival of 2.3 million tourists.
He also emphasizes that this is now being politicized.
He says that hundreds of thousands of people depend on the tourism industry and that it generates a large amount of money for the national income and that health guidelines should be given top priority in restarting the tourism industry.
However, he said that what did not happen when Ukrainian tourists were brought in was the non-compliance with health guidelines and therefore the government was urged to implement these health guidelines to the fullest.
The Vice President points out that there is no specialty of being a tourist and that they too should wear masks like Sri Lankans.
He also says that a proper plan has not yet been drawn up on how to quarantine Sri Lankans who work with tourists.
Chauffeur Tourist Guide Lecturers Chairman Hirantha Perera said that the tourism sector, which had collapsed after the Easter attacks, had suffered another setback due to the covid epidemic, which had caused severe financial hardship to its members.
He says that they have not been able to pay the lease installments for their vehicles and even though they have requested relief from the government, they have not been able to provide any assistance.
He said it was gratifying that the government was trying to take some action to boost the tourism sector at this time.