Luxury ride for tourists

The luxury train service from Katunayake to Colombo launched to coincide with the IIFA Film Festival will now ferry tourists and locals from the point of arrival at the KIA. There is no knowing the potential such a venture can offer particularly with regard to the tourist industry. In most foreign countries visitors are greeted with various novelties and modes of relaxation right upon arrival which go to make a big impression on the visitor of the country concerned.

Regrettably, so far we have failed to provide such amusements to our tourists right at the point of arrival which could provide a great relief to the weary traveller. Besides it would not be a good beginning from the point of view of first impressions. It is hoped that this luxury train service will be one among many other projects in the future that will provide a welcome first glimpse of the country offered to the heavy influx of tourists that are expected in post-war Sri Lanka in the coming months.

The fare for a single trip abroad the luxury train from the Airport to the Railway Station adjacent to the Presidential Secretariat in Fort is Rs 1,500 per head. Even Airport Staff could avail themselves of the facility of travelling in the luxury train.

This certainly is a novelty in rail travel in the country that should be expanded with the anticipated tourist boom. The Civil Aviation Authority together with the Railway Department who have sponsored the venture, should look at ways of making the luxury train journey more attractive to the tourists.The Tourist Board could even enlist the service of a prominent tour operator and even hoteliers to get involved in the venture to capitalize on the novelty.

As for locals returning from abroad the fare certainly is a bargain considering that the Airport taxi service could charge them anything over Rs 3,000 for a journey to Colombo.Ideally such a luxury train service should be extended to other areas particularly those covering popular tourist resorts.

There is no knowing the dividends that could be reaped by developing our leisure industry to its full potential. The country’s second international Airport in Mattala no doubt would provide such an opportunity. The completion of the Southern Expressway in the near future too would provide the ideal landscape for a luxury coach service in the South.

But will the luxury train service have a short lifespan as we have seen with other similar projects that got started with much fan fare only to die a natural death? What has become of the shuttle service that was launched by the Transport Minister to minimize traffic congestion in the city? One does not hear much about this project any more these days. It is not just the train journeys.

We should also think about developing other avenues that attract the foreign visitor to our country. One such avenue could be the developing our canals, lagoons and waterways allowing for boat rides and water cruising that offer vast potential for the tourist industry.

The prospects abound for this type of venture in the North East with its vast network of canals and lagoons. With proper attention to this aspect, the region could be converted into a vast tourist hub.This is all the more possible due the curiosity of tourists to visit the area that became so famous as the epicentre of the country’s ethnic war not so long ago.

Laptops and lap tops

It was reported that Parliamentarians will now be allowed to bring laptops into the House. Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa the other day gave the green light for MPs to bring laptops into the august chamber. One wonders what use would a laptop be for a Member while sessions are in progress unless he is not keen to lap up the action. On the other hand the move could be cause for alarm among the general public who had been witness to frequent skirmishes and flying missiles across the floor. Will a highly worked up people’s representative in a spasm of rage let fly with his laptop.

The possibility exists more than at any other time now that Government members virtually overlap the Opposition in the seating arrangements. The prospects seem endless.The Speaker would not be privy to what is being downloaded on the laptop. He would not be in a position to rule whether such material was unparliamentary. There could also be e-mail sent across the floor by rival MPs - including to the opposite sex. Again their contents would escape the Speaker’s attention. Better that than having them on their own lap tops - literarily speaking that is.