Archives

by Richard Dwight

In the wake of the high occupancy rates enjoyed by the hotels in the Central Region, during the recently held one day cricket triangular at the Rangiri Stadium in Dambulla - the Minister of Central Regional Development, Tissa Attanayake, is making a concerted effort to maintain and sustain this healthy trend, by the promotion of water sports on its varied waterways, which would be beneficial to many in the area. One amongst which, the curtain raiser in fact, will be the open mid summer windsurfing championships scheduled for Sunday 6th July at the Ibbankatuwa Reservoir Dambulla. This was revealed to the media, at a briefing held last Wednesday by Minister Attanyake, at the Auditorium of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board. An enthusiastic, enterprising on going venture such as this, has the active support of the, Minister of Tourism, Gamini Lokuge, the Minister of Irrigation and Water Management Gamini Jayawickrema Perera and yet others.

Attanayake's lament was that though the Region coming under his purview boasts of scenic attractions, historic and architectural sites, ruined cities, citadels and eco-touristic avenues-it however has a very high unemployment rate in all six districts viz; Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Matale, where traditionally it is an agricultural and plantation area, with little or no industries. Minister Attanayake therefore feels that it is opportune to find out other sources of income and employment generation activities, one of which being the promotion of varied water sports on the inland's waterways found in abundance in the region and, the forthcoming open mid summer windsurfing championships is a step in that direction.

The Minister of tourism, Gamini Lokuge's, observation was that while we take pride in the prevailing clear blue skies, the sun, sand, sea and beaches to draw tourists into the island, we must as well do much more to attract tourists to the Central Region, where there is so much going for them. This Region must be elaborated upon and well publicised so as to create an awareness amongst tourists. Providing comfortable rooms and food alone wouldn't do, hotels in the region should have adequate recreational and entertainment facilities, with the emphasis on water sports which would prove beneficial not only to the tourist but to those living in and around the region. Lokuge concluded by saying sports in general is complementary to the tourist industry.

It was gathered from the President of the Windsurfing Association of Sri Lanka (WASL) Baron de Livera and the Secretary WASL Tilak Weerasinghe that the Central Region is bestowed with many waterways viz; rivers, streams, reservoirs and tanks, making it an ideal location for the different forms of water sports, which would be helpful to many in the area and foster economic activity as well.

The windsurfing championship race held in the afternoon on a 4.5KM course will be preceded by a training programme in windsurfing, water skiing, diving jet scooter, diving etc.

The championship race will have local as well as foreign participants numbering around 30.

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager