To sustain the lives of employees directly involved in the tourism industry and linked to establishments registered with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority several relief measures have been approved with implementation mechanisms.
These include the following: 1. Provide a loan at 4% to accommodation providers and destination management companies (DMCs) registered under SLTDA to pay salaries through Bank of Ceylon (BOC) without collateral, under the Post COVID-19 Relief budget of the government.
2.A similar loan facility will be made available to pay salaries of employees of 850+ establishments providing facilities to tourists, registered under SLTDA including; Restaurants, Tourist Friendly Eating Places, Spa & Wellness Centers, Spice Gardens, Tourist Shops and Water Sports Centers.
3. Tour Guides and Tourist Drivers who are employed per tour basis and not entitled to EPF/ETF, SLTDA would provide one-off payments of Rs.20,000 to tour guides and Rs.15,000 to drivers registered with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.
These payments would be directly remitted to their bank accounts by the Authority.
Instructions to be given to the Ceylon Electricity Board and the National Water Supply and Drainage Board to delay claiming dues from SLTDA registered accommodation providers for period from March 1 to August 31, 2020 and provide a 12-month instalment plan to settle the cumulative bills.
Meanwhile the Central Bank to issue circular giving instructions to Banks and Financial Institutions to extend the six months grace period given for vehicles leased for tourism purposes to twelve months without considering the existing lease agreement and without default charges during the grace period.
0 comments: