The Sri Lanka Association for Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) yesterday welcomed the Government’s decision to exempt the Destination Management Companies (DMC) from the Value Added Tax, but added that it was overdue by three months, SLAITO Chairman Mahen Kariyawasam told Daily News Finance.
“We are appreciative of the Government granting us this benefit even with effect from April 1, 2020, but we made the request to the Government in January at the time, the Government granted exemption to the hotels in December 2019, he said. He said that now the industry is now on a level playing field or otherwise, we could have become more expensive,”
Responding to a question as to how he sees the recovery of the leisure industry in the wake of the comments made by Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando that the industry would see the full recovery with all the protections being brought in, the SLAITO Chief said that it was too early to comment on that aspect at this stage.
For that to happen, Sri Lanka’s major markets, UK, France, Germany, India and China have to recover.
It is true that China has recovered according to the news media but it is too early to comment.
“For that to happen, all these economies also have to recover,” he said.
He said that SLAITO was also appreciative of the protective measures that the Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson had taken in terms of health and safety issues.
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