Investing in people and developing professional skills are essential to strengthening Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and creating better jobs for young people, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Minister Vijitha Herath has said.
He was speaking at the awards ceremony of the Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Competition 2026, held at Cinnamon Life – City of Dreams in Colombo on 1 November, the Daily Mirror reported on Tuesday afternoon.
Herath said Sri Lanka’s culinary traditions could play an important role in attracting international tourists, and that the country should promote its distinctive cuisine, local ingredients and cultural heritage abroad while preserving their authenticity and maintaining international standards.
He pointed to the need to build culinary and hospitality skills among young people, and to strengthen cooperation between the private sector, professional associations and educational institutions to produce skilled professionals for the industry. Giving young people opportunities to show their talents, he said, mattered to developing future careers in hospitality.
The Minister commended the participation of more than 1,500 students in the Junior Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Competition, saying such initiatives helped nurture young talent and create openings in tourism and hospitality. He congratulated the winners, finalists and participants, and thanked Nestlé Lanka and its partners.
Not reported
The filing is an account of a speech. It carries no policy commitment, funding figure, programme or timetable — no training places, no budget line, no institution named as a delivery partner.
It does not name the competition’s winners, say how many finalists there were, or report what the awards consisted of. It gives no figure for employment in the hospitality sector, no target for skilled-worker numbers, and no indication of whether the cooperation the Minister called for is being formalised.
The remarks were made on Saturday 1 November and reported on Tuesday; the filing does not explain the gap.
Single source. No other verified newsroom had filed on the Minister’s remarks at the time of writing. The Daily Mirror has separately carried a press release on the same competition’s regional rounds, and Hiru News reported the memorandum of understanding to host the 2026 edition, but neither covers this ceremony or these remarks.