‘Why was Geoffrey Dobbs denied entry?’

Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe today (20) asked the government and the prime minister as to why Geoffrey Dobbs, one of the leading promoters of Sri Lankan tourism, had been denied entry to the country.

In a speech to parliament, he said the commissioner general of immigration had told his secretary that Mr. Dobbs was ‘an undesirable person.’

Mr. Wickremesinghe noted that Mr. Dobbs was the person who had started the boutique hotels down south that get the best income tourism, and also started the Galle Literary Festival, and recently had a reading of ‘Gota’s War’ there.

“He has got a lot of publicity in all leading travel magazines and literary magazines. He has also, I note to my knowledge, got a lot of money, about US Dollars 4, 5 million to Sri Lanka in donations.”

Noting that Mr. Dobbs has been having some local issues, the opposition leader said this matter was going to affect the tourism industry.

“But today, when you are trying to abruptly stop him, the only reason we can come out is that someone is trying to get these (his) properties, not merely the hotels that we know. He owns some properties in the Galle Fort, down south,” he added.