Building Sri Lanka's eastern dream

High potential player in island's tourism market:

by Timothy A. Edward

The Eastern region is fast emerging as a high potential player in Sri Lanka's tourism market. The stamp of the eastern people is their hospitality. In recent times, the East of Sri Lanka has been capturing the radar of international tourism.

However, the Eastern Province has only 16 graded hotels; the others consist of 98 guest houses and 28 home-stays. This might be the opportune time for the relevant authorities and related apex bodies to channel their energies and resources to uplift the overall standard of tourism delivery in this region.

With the number of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka exceeding 1.5 million in 2015, and Sri Lanka presently being branded as one of the safest places to visit, the potential to develop the eastern coastline as a prime tourist destination in the world is high, because of its natural beauty, resources and how it is situated.

Divine coastline

Around 74% of visitors cite 'pleasure' as their primary reason to visit Sri Lanka and the eastern region is uniquely positioned to meet this need. Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara have some of the best beaches in the Asia Pacific region. Arugam Bay is an internationally recommended destination for surfing.

A German tour magazine cites Batticaloa as the Venice of Sri Lanka. Pasikudah, Nilaveli, Kalkudah and Marble Beach are world famous.

With all these, the possibility of doing eco, cultural and heritage-related tourism too is very high. Therefore, in terms of what can be done and shown to entertain and delight the domestic and international tourists is endless in the East.

But, since, the sector is new, it is heartening to see the relevant authorities making every effort to give due priority to develop this region. To derive the best from what Mother Nature has bestowed on the Eastern region with, much needs to be done in terms of investment, infrastructure development and strategic planning. Only then, the Eastern Province could be transformed as a preferred destination among international markets.

Recently, the initiative taken by the relevant authorities to clean the Sri Lankan beaches is highly commendable. If the beaches are not clean, it will boomerang in many detrimental ways, especially in this era of high-tech driven social media.

But, in addition, it is also encouraging to see the provincial administration taking steps to improve the basic infrastructure that support the tourism trade, especially where tourist activities take place, which include road management with a good electricity supply, so that the roads are well-lit during the night, with a proper water supply and drainage systems, efficient and prompt garbage and wastage management.

Basics in place

Without these basic infrastructure and health standards in place, we can have the best of everything, yet fail to attract the discerning holidaymakers. It is saddening to note that there is not a single Rajya Osu Sala in the Batticaloa district.

Therefore, before Batticaloa could be aligned to contribute towards the GDP growth rate through tourism.

If the Eastern Province is to be marketed successfully to world-renowned tour operators, the cities in the East should be beautified without destroying its rustic beauty that makes it highly attractive to tourists.

In Batticaloa, the UDA and the people are working together with plans in the pipeline so that business could make realistic judgments and informed risk-taking to support tourism. Another area of interest, in the tourism expansion programs in the East is to ensure the rights of the people who have been living in this region for centuries and ensure their dignity.

In certain circles, it is believed that lands declared as not safe for residential and business purposes under Swarna Bhoomi initiatives during the tsunami period are being given to people from outside. It is the duty of the authorities to determine the accuracy and credibility of these statements and remedial measures should be taken to ensure that justice is meted out to voiceless people.

The service skills of those employed in the tourism and hospitality sector needs to be looked into expediently, if the East is to compete effectively in the international markets. To this effect, the capacity of weak training institutes need to be built and poor hospitality related soft skills among trainees and existing staff addressed.

Language learning

The TVEC Chairman, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha's initiative to make English compulsory for the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) certification process is commendable.

The writer is a trainer, human resources practitioner and business consultant.