Sustainable Tourism Development Project

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The project objective of the Sustainable Tourism Development Project is to strengthen the institutional framework for the tourism sector to facilitate environmentally and socially sound investments, in particular in the East of Sri Lanka. There are three components to the project. Component one: the project will provide technical assistance and funding to all institutions including the Ministry of Tourism (MoT); Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) and Sri Lanka Conventions Bureau (SLCB), which will improve the overall efficiency and efficacy of these institutions. The project will support: i) institutional and regulatory reforms with the required capacity building in local government for enabling the provinces, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the community through on-line registration of tourist establishments, issue of permits and licenses (one stop services); ii) management information system (MIS) linking work plans, staff key performance indicators (KPIs) to output which will lead to improved accountability and user/client focus; and iii) complaints notification and emergency information "hotline" for timely and accurate user information. Component two: improving highly localized tourism related infrastructure services in the East. The project will provide funding for local tourism plans in the tourism development zones. The local tourism plan is the basis for planned development. It will identify for instance infrastructure gaps and the tourism related activities that a specific location can offer. It will be based on consultation with local communities to ensure that possible negative aspects are identified and addressed. Component three: improving and extending the product content and supply chains of SMEs. The project will set up a Matching Grant Facility (MGF) for tourism firms or firms or suppliers for tourism firms (e.g. farms). The matching grant will not exceed US$ 25,000. The facility is available to all medium and small tourism related firms (listed large companies will be excluded) on a re-imbursement basis. Tourism firms will first have to present their projects (training certification, etc.) to the MGF and justify how these projects will improve their products and businesses.