Sri Lanka to review alcohol policies to boost tourism – Making Sri Lanka more enjoyable

According to the target set by President Gotabaya Rajapakse, the tourism industry should work towards earning 10 billion US Dollars by 2025 and as a result of this, several proposals indicating how to achieve this target have been presented to the officials already. One such proposal is to liberalize beverage licenses, especially with regards to hotels and restaurants so that it will have a direct impact on the improvement of the tourism industry.

Most of the Colombo, Gampaha, Galle, Kalutara and Kandy hotels have hotel bar licenses issued by the Excise Department and restaurants, rest houses and boutique villas also have been issued the same over the past few years. Because of this, today, even a traveller staying in a boutique hotel in Galle has permitted access to beverages and this has made a clear impact on the boost of the tourism industry. Properties such as The River House, thus contribute directly to the enhancement of the industry and it is believed that, through liberalizing the licenses, they will be able to contribute more and more in the time to come.