Consul General of Sri Lanka in Mumbai Chamari Rodrigo paid a courtesy call on the Governor of Goa Smt. Mridula Sinha at the Raj Bhavan, the latter’s official residence in Goa on 3 January 2019. The courtesy call was followed by the Consul General's meetings with Chief Secretary of Goa, Parimal Rai and Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism Sheo Pratap Singh on 4 January 2019 to initiate a joint collaboration between Sri Lanka and Goa in the Tourism sector.
Tourism is the primary industry of Goa and around seven (7) million tourists visited Goa in 2018. An Indian cruise liner commenced its operation for the first time between Mumbai to Goa in October 2018 on daily basis, given the high demand from the domestic tourists to Goa.
Developing cruise tourism is one of the key areas of Sri Lanka tourism given the increasing number of cruise liners to the Colombo Port, which recorded 53 passenger vessels and over 72,500 onboard passengers to Colombo in 2018.
The Consul General’s discussions with the officials of the Government of Goa centered on the possibility of having joint tourism cooperation between Goa and Sri Lanka via cruise tourism. The Consul General also met with the Secretary of the Travel and Tour Operators Association in Goa and the Chief of Protocol of the Government of Goa during her visit.
