Tourism and its impact

by Jaliya WIJEYEKOON

“Tourism” is a word which is rampant in the lips of politicians, economists, media people and businessmen at present. Since the peace is dawned in the country after a period of nearly three decades of insecurity, uncertainty and instability due to the LTTE war. What is tourism - “Tourism” could be defined as travelling from place to place for various reasons. Tourism has been in existence from time immemorial and it is not limited to human beings. Tourism is a regular practice even among a number of species globally.

Dr. Ananda Tissa de Alwis	P. B. G. Kalugalla
Dharmasiri Senanayake	Milinda Moragoda

People travel from place to place or from country to country for different reasons such as pleasure holidaying, business, education, enjoyment, climatic changes and employment. Some species travel thousands of miles during certain periods in the year for climatic reasons. We know of some migrant birds who fly even to our country during some months in the year and go back to their country of origin after spending a few months here.

Although tourism had been in existence from centuries ago, it developed as an industry only after the industrial revolution which took place in Europe in the latter part of the 18th century and the beginning of 19th century.

With the Industrial Revolution, a number of significant achievements were made in respect of every need of the human beings out of which the introduction of the different modes of transport was of paramount importance. Land vehicles such as motor cars, busses, vans and trains came into being. Marine vehicles like ships, motor boats, submarines and aerial vehicles like aeroplanes, helicopters and faster jets were introduced to the world.

As the passage of time gradually passed by, the people became scientifically advanced, more civilised, cultured, educated and inquisitive and started to travel from place to place, country to country, continent to continent for various reasons and tourism gradually became a global industry.

There are some other industries which prospered rapidly hand in hand with tourist industry. Some of them are hospitality industry or hotel industry and travel and tour operations.

Western world quickly realised the importance of Tourist trade and took all possible measures to popularise same in their countries subsequently it was encouraged in other countries as well. By this time most of the Asian countries were under the British rule and no special attention was focused by the British rulers to promote tourism in the region other than setting up few hotels to be patronised by them while they are working in these countries.

We gained independence in 1948 from the British rulers and started our own governance since then. Some of our national leaders who were educated mainly in Great Britain had already realised the importance of developing tourist industry in our country. But they were not able to adequately focus their attention on this process since we had more burning issues to address and relieve the nation from bondage mentality after winning the independence.

Successive governments from early fifties and sixties played an important role to develop tourist industry in our country in order to make a substantial contribution to the national economy. It is noteworthy of mentioning the programme introduced by Colombo Plan scheme to develop tourism in Sri Lanka.

There are a number of key political figures who worked relentlessly with a clear vision to develop tourist industry and some of them are Dr. Ananda Tissa de Alwis, P. B. G. Kalugalla ,Dharmasiri Senanayake and Milinda Moragoda to name a few. Irrespective of their political philosophy they were genuinely interested in promoting tourist attraction in the country in order to earn foreign exchange which will finally contribute to the national economy.Sri Lanka a small island situated in the Indian ocean is blessed with a number of factors. Its strategic location, geography of the country, history, civilisation, climate and nature of citizens augurs very well to be a tourist destination.

But most unfortunately we have still not been able to exploit the available resources to its maximum potential.There are some countries in the world which generate substantial percentage of their national income through tourism. Even our closest neighbour, Maldives earns a considerable portion of the annual income of the country by tourist trade. Hawaii islands totally depends on tourism and over 90% of their national income is generated by tourist trade. It is surprising to note that any given month of the year there are more tourists than local citizens in the Hawaiian Island.

Our country, with all its resources, potential and worthiness to be an absolute tourist destination, fell short in the process of trade development mainly due to a lack of a national policy and partly due to the war. Now that the war is over govt has a great responsibility to promote tourism in the country since it is one of the main foreign exchange earners.

Short-term and long-term plans have to be initiated with the help and concurrence of different ministries, departments and institutions. Policy- makers should pay their attention to introduce higher diplomas and degree programmes in the universities and higher educational institutes so that there will be a qualified set of youngsters in future to handle this trade successfully. Foreign training should be sponsored by the State to produce professionals in this trade.Private sector participation is vital in the enhancement of tourism as they are playing a major role in this business. Sometimes even more than the bureaucrats and decision-makers they are the people who are practically involved in this trade and they possess hands on experience which could be exploited and utilised to promote the trade.

An aggressive propaganda campaign should be launched by the government highlighting the scenic beauty of our country, attractive beaches, cultural pageants, availability of star class hotels, domestic travel and transport and about leisure time activities and the safety and security of foreigners.It is very encouraging to see the present government is trying its best to promote tourism and the quantum of work discharged by the immediate past Minister of Tourism, Milinda Moragoda with a clear vision to promote tourism in the country. As stated earlier it is a very lucrative business which brings in a number of benefits in addition to the monetary gains to a country. It is appreciable to see how the officials at the tourist promotion bureau engaged in its development activities with complete optimism of the future of the trade.A large number of employment opportunities could be created with the development of tourist trade directly and indirectly which will finally cater to boost our national economy.

In addition to the traditional and conventional methods and theories of the trade, model and novel ways has to be introduced and adopted for the rapid development of any trade.

The tourists visiting Sri Lanka could be categorized mainly under 4 types. Holiday-makers, leisure travellers, business travellers, student travellers or explorers.It is essential to identify the type of visitors and cater to their different needs.

The attitudes and temperaments of a holiday-maker will be totally different from that of a business traveller. So their needs differ, tastes differ and habits differ. Unless we correctly identify their needs and treat them accordingly they will not revisit Sri Lanka probably in their life-time. If we could satisfy their needs properly they will not only re-visit our paradise but also will work as goodwill ambassadors in promoting our image in their soil of origin.We hear of some visitors those who have been victimized by unscrupulous traders, those who had been robbed of their valuables by rogues and subjected to various unexpected misfortunes. Law enforcement authorities should take immediate steps to bring the culprits to book and mete out severest punishment on them if possible even before the victims leave our shores. And the victims should be adequately compensated and redress their grievances and assure them of non-repetition of similar incidents.

Government is very optimistic that our country would be able to achieve the expected target of 2.5 million tourists annually from the year 2014 as instructed by President Mahinda Rajapakse through the successful programmes launched in promoting social tourism, eco-tourism, cultural tourism and sports tourism. If all projects work out well as planned, tourist industry will contribute a substantial income to the national economy in future.