Sri Lanka Tourist Board sets up dedicated website

Launched on yesterday, the website currently provides information on the latest developments concerning the evacuation of foreign tourists, contact information for hospitals, police stations and airlines.

The status of hotels affected by the Tsunami is also posted on the site, with contact numbers of those hotels still in operation.

'While we have people manning our general information hotline (94-11- 2437 061) around-the-clock we want to provide as many avenues as possible to help people get the information they need about relatives and friends who are still in the country,' said SLTB Chairman, Mr Udaya Nanayakkara.

'At the moment we have managed to post basic information but we do hope to expand the information to include names of all tourists who have registered with the Tourist Board, names and status of hotels in affected areas and other relevant information.'

Foreign visitors
Latest figures indicate that about one hundred tourists perished and more than 85 are still missing.

As of noon (Colombo time) on December 29 more than 2,400 tourists had been transported to temporary accommodation in the capital Colombo.

The cities major hotels have thrown open their doors to the visitors, offering all available bed-space and banquet and function rooms as temporary housing.

Colombo's main conference venue, the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conventions Centre (BMICH) has also been converted into a facility for accommodating the tourists, conducting medical checks and for processing travel documents for those who lost their passports.

The Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB), which is leading the emergency evacuation effort, has arranged a shuttle bus service from the city hotels and the BMICH to take people to the airport.

'Over the past three days, and following a huge effort from the entire travel industry in Sri Lanka, we have evacuated most of the group-travel tourists safely to Colombo,' said the SLTB's Chairman, Mr Udaya Nanayakkara.

'We are now concentrating on helping the Free-Independent-Travellers (FITs), putting them in touch with their individual embassies and providing transport from the coastal areas to Colombo', he added.

'Regular shuttle buses will collect independent travelers at predetermined pick-up points. We have appealed over radio and television for local people to help take these visitors to the pick-up points.'

'In co-operation with the Foreign Office and the airlines the repatriation is proceeding very smoothly. All scheduled flights have also operated at maximum capacity and over one thousand tourists were flown out of the country on special charter flights on the 28th of December.'

Several hotels in the coastal areas resumed operation yesterday as generators were repaired to supply power.

Mr Nanayakkara said that initial reports indicated that only a few hotels suffered serious structural damage. Most hotels would be back in operation by the end of February, he said.