“The tourism industry is going through a consolidation phase. All stake holders must get together and strive to develop the industry without pointing fingers at each other.” There is no magic formula to it, but all will have to make a team effort to achieve results, Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda said at a media briefing yesterday.

“Our vision is to achieve the 1.5 million arrivals mark by the year 2010, tourists. Its nice to talk about figures, but let’s not get bogged down in figures. Hence one million tourists would be a fair target, the Minister pointed out.

Asked about the much talked about Tourism Act, which has been on hold for the last five years he said “now its going through a stake holders consultation process and it will be tabled in “Parliament in three months time.”

Working groups will be formed to delve into different areas in tourism.

One of the areas discussed on his recent visit to China was religious tourism, an area hitherto not tapped to the fullest Moragoda said. It is an area with a huge potential for Sri Lanka, he said.

Asked what plans he has to improve domestic tourism, which has been neglected over the years by successive governments he said. “Steps will be taken to improve this area as it is an important segment in tourism and a new mechanism will be devised to achieve this goal.”

Talking about travel advisories, Moragoda stressed the need to overcome these barriers. Nothing can be done overnight and these matters will be addressed soon. The minister expressed confidence in the new Chairman of the SLTB Renton de Alwis, who he said is a seasoned campaigner, in the industry with a lot of confidence and charisma.

Newly appointed Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board Renton De Alwis emphasized the need to work as a team “getting all stake holders on board. We cannot develop tourism without doing this.”

“We must have a clear vision, there are problems in the country, but should not be negative.”

“If you don’t have a sound domestic tourism base in your country you cannot think of promoting international tourism,” he said.