The Minister has taken this decision with the aim of enhancing the standards of tourist Hotels islandwide. Around 20,000 tourist hotels have not been registered with the government at present.The number of tourist hotels registered with the government up to now is 2000.Considering this situation, Minister Ranatunga has requested the SLTDA to take necessary steps within the next three months to get all tourist hotels registered with the government.

The Minister said that special attention must be paid on the quality and standards of the hotels. Moreover, he said that the hotel owners must be made aware as to the manner in which the hotels should be run in keeping with international standards.The SLTDA has already commenced the registration process by appointing a special team of officers.