Don’t forsake Sri Lanka

Fresh from a cricket tour of Sri Lanka, Michael Evans, The Times’ defence correspondent issues a plea to visit the country

Michael EVANS

HOLIDAY: Sri Lanka, a golden island in the Indian Ocean, tailor-made for holidaymakers, is suffering from tourist blight. Hotels are 60-70 per cent empty and beach traders, desperate to sell their silk scarves and jewellery, look forlornly at the scarcity of foreigners lying on the sand.

It’s a sad story for an island that can offer so much for honeymooners or families. The tourists are staying away because when they contemplate their next holiday and read about the continuing conflict in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, and more recently the Tamil Tiger air bombing of the military base not far from the international airport in Colombo, they assume the country is too dangerous, or at least poses an unacceptable risk.

The fact is that there are now many countries in the world where there are potential risks for the holidaymaker, whether from internal terrorist incidents, as in Turkey and Spain, external international terrorism deliberately aimed at Western tourists, as in Bali in 2002, or just animosity towards Westerners.

It is all too easy, and understandable, to take what might seem the easy option and plan a holiday where it is hoped there are no such risks, like two weeks in Cornwall or a fortnight on a barge in France.

However, invariably the perception of danger in the mind of the holidaymaker from reading about individual incidents in different countries is far greater than the reality on the ground.

For example, when the Tamil Tigers dropped a few gravity bombs on the Katunayake air base next to the international airport outside Colombo on March 25, flying in low below military radar in two light aircraft, the perception back in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe was that the main airport had been bombed and tourists were in danger.

Hundreds of holidaymakers cancelled their bookings, and certain countries whose nationals frequent Sri Lanka, notably Australia, Germany and France, advised against any travel to the Indian Ocean island.

In fact, the airport, although closed for a few hours as a precaution, was soon up and running, and unaffected by the drama beyond the perimeter fence.

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been more realistic in its travel advice, strongly warning against any trips to the north and east but not suggesting that Sri Lanka should be off limits.

British diplomats in Colombo, who helped the FCO to draw up its assessment, know that in the 23 years of ethnic strife between the Tamil Tigers and the government, the would-be secessionists have not once targeted tourists.

So is the perception of danger misplaced? Is it worth risking a holiday in Sri Lanka? Having just returned from more than two weeks in the country, playing cricket against Sri Lankan club sides in Colombo and Galle in the south, and Dambulla and Kandy, in central Sri Lanka, - and was in Colombo on the day of the air base bombing - I believe the island offers the potential for a wonderful and safe holiday. With so few tourists around, there are now also some genuine bargains.

It’s possible to stay in some of the best hotels, such as the Lighthouse in Galle, the Mount Lavinia and Galle Face in Colombo, the extraordinary Kandalama, built into a rockface in Dambulla, the Earls Regency in Kandy and popular Blue Water in Wadduwa, at rates that are within holidaymakers’ price range, and be guaranteed luxury accommodation.

There are also smaller hotels, such as the Coral Sands in Hikkaduwa, right on the ocean in the south, where a room for the night can cost as little as Sterling Pounds 30.

Sri Lanka should not be a one-location holiday spot, there are too many places to see and enjoy which can be easily reached by car or, in some cases, by train.

With pre-planning, it is possible to arrange an itinerary that will allow you to enjoy the long, sandy beaches in the south, explore the restaurants and elegant bars in Galle - eat chicken and prawns in the Galle Fort Hotel and then have a nightcap at the grand, colonial-style Amangalla Hotel - and go on a safari to the Yala Natural Park in the south, home to elephants, leopards, sloth bears and crocodiles, as well as being a paradise of birdlife.

Sri Lanka is one of the finest wild animal-watching countries in the world: in Yala Park, the terrain is fairly open with grasslands and there is estimated to be one leopard per square kilometre; in August and September, elephants gather in extraordinary numbers - sometimes as many as 300 - in the north central province.

Despite the lack of tourists, there are a number of hotel chains which have come up with new ideas to attract the more adventurous holidaymakers.

Jetwing, for example, which owns the Lighthouse in Galle that overlooks the ocean, is offering an eco-holiday in a new-style thatched hut complex, called Vil Uyana in Rangirigama, about 170 kilometres from Colombo, set in a wetlands environment with lakes and reed beds, it’s like living in a private nature reserve.

There is even supposed to be a baby crocodile called Bessie lurking in the waters, although I am not sure whether that’s an “extra” that would be welcomed by everyone!

The new complex, ideal, so Jetwing insists, for honeymooners, is not that far from Sigiriya, a rock fortress built in the 5th century which is one of the most extraordinary historical monuments.

To reach the top of the 600ft rock in the Matale district, part of the so-called Cultural Triangle, to see where King Kasyapa used to bathe and frolic with 500 concubines, you have to climb 1,200 steps. It’s worth it.

Along the south coast, probably for some time to come, there is still evidence of the 2004 tsunami, with many homes standing derelict.

But it is encouraging to see that a lot of rebuilding is underway, and one of the best tonics for the the people of Sri Lanka who are extraordinarily gentle, positive and generous, is to see tourists back in their shops and restaurants to help the local economies.

Tourism in Sri Lanka has traditionally been the third highest revenue-earner, behind tea and the garment industry, but unless holidaymakers take the plunge and start returning to the island, the future looks uncertain.

Courtesy: Times Online

More reasons to visit Sri Lanka

Fresh from a holiday on the island, Mark Sellman reveals more places to stay in Sri Lanka

A year ago, I visited Sri Lanka on a cricket tour, much as my colleague Michael Evans recounts in his impassioned appeal not to stay away from the island. While there, I was fortunate enough to stay at Lunaganga, possibly the best hotel I have ever stayed in.

A friend, Catherine Leech, also found 10 fabulous places to stay while she lived in Sri Lanka doing voluntary work.

And now another colleague, Mark Sellman, has just returned from SL raving about two places he stayed in on the south side of the island.

We can’t all be wrong about this island paradise, can we?

- Steve Keenan, Travel Editor, Times Online