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| Friday, 4 June 2004 |
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Time for Lanka to promote wildlife tourism From Shirajiv Sirimane in Yala
The Sri Lanka Ministry of Tourism and the Department of Wildlife have focused much attention to promote the wildlife potential for the tourist industry in the country. According to the CEO Jetwing Eco Holidays Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, Sri Lanka has a great potential to be ranked among the top wildlife destinations in the world. "Yala National Park has one of the highest densities of leopards. It is estimated that for every square kilometre there is one leopard in the Park and this density is even higher than Africa and Kenya," he said. He said that Jetwing Eco Holidays has made presentations and from 2003 some Travel Agents have identified Sri Lanka's potential to be a wildlife destination and are organising wildlife tours to the country. "This is not enough and the new Minister must look into this area," he said. He said that wildlife tourism can be easily promoted in countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, Maldives and Japan. "Australian national parks do not have elephants and leopards and most of the tour operators are targeting clients from these region," he said. Manager of the Yala Safari Game Lodge operated by Jetwing Hotels said that they are planning to launch a project to upgrade themselves to one of the best Game Lodges in Asia.
The wildlife package is targeted at high spenders who would stay around six days. Sri Lanka wildlife potential should be promoted through Sri Lanka embassies overseas and especially on foreign television channels, which have an audience of over two million. However many red tape problems are discouraging foreign television crews. Though there is free access for still cameras special permission from the Wildlife head office is needed for other cameras for even local media. Foreign television journalists have to get permission through their Foreign Ministry and the process takes nearly three weeks. "This must change as foreign media is the best advertiser for Sri Lanka wildlife," he said. The Yala National Park administration too has to think positive. The Park opens for the public at 6 a.m. while its restaurant and the souvenir shop opens after 8 a.m. that deprives the public from purchasing items such as film rolls, caps and snacks. The shop has no souvenir items depicting Yala other than a few picture postcards while the restaurant has to be upgraded to meet the present day demands.
According to one of the Wildlife Department employees the income of Yala National Park is around Rs. four hundred thousand on week days and around Rs. six hundred thousand during weekends. "It is surprising to note that the money collected goes to the Treasury and only 50 per cent is allocated for the Wildlife Department," he said. The Department charges Rs. 20 from a local and US $ 17 plus VAT from foreigners. In addition there is a charge for vehicles. However there is no commission paid for trackers. Yala National Park was established in 1938 and today it has 126,786 hectares of jungle. |
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