Soon a three-year national strategy on boat building and nautical tourism: Minister of Commerce

• Strategy to be formulated by the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce, EDB, Sri Lanka Tourism, other key organizations and the private sector
• Minister wants to present Cabinet document on national strategy by end of year

By Charumini de Silva

Responding to a long-felt need, the government is taking steps to put in place a national strategy for the boat building and nautical tourism industry, which will be rolled out over the next three years.

“A strategy for boat building and nautical tourism development drawn up by industry experts will be presented to Cabinet before the end of this year,” Commerce Minister Bandula Gunawardena told the Daily FT.

Following the inauguration of the “Virtual Boat Show Sri Lanka 2021” yesterday with players in the shipbuilding industry and senior officials from the Export Development Board (EDB), the Minister said he was determined to develop this high potential sector that had been ignored by governments for decades.

Gunawardena said the three-year development strategy will be formulated by the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce, EDB, Sri Lanka Tourism and other key organizations in the boat and shipbuilding industry.

“Given the great marine diversity and attracting high-end global travelers, Sri Lanka has great potential for nautical tourism, yacht building, yacht charter and operation in the region and beyond. The national strategy will strive to exploit this potential to the maximum, ”Gunawardena added.

He also said that the post-pandemic boatbuilding and nautical tourism industry has enormous potential to jumpstart the economy with much-needed foreign exchange earnings.

The National Export Strategy (NES) identified boat building and related services as one of the five key industries for expanding and diversifying Sri Lanka’s export basket and income. The goal of the NES is to increase export earnings to a value of $ 500 million.

“Industry experts have ensured to submit relevant development strategies within one month and the draft policy will be discussed among industry stakeholders to be further refined. Subsequently, the proposal will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval and implementation, ”said the Minister of Commerce.