SRI LANKA - tourism recovers from earlier slump

eTN, Dec 13, 2007

Tourism has staged a turn around from November, with a robust arrival gain of 20% for the month. The drop-in arrivals peaked in May this year to 40% after the LTTE attack on the Bandaranaike International Airport and the subsequent curfew imposed on night flights.
Since September this year, a recovery was seen with a strong turn into a positive last month. Arrivals for November was 45,102 compared with 37, 591 for the same month last year. With the current boost Sri Lanka tourism got with the Barmy Army of nearly 7,000 fans currently enjoying the cricket test matches.

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SRI LANKA -Promoting tourism through sports

Dailynews.lk, 14 September 2007

SPORTS TOURISM Deputy Minister of Tourism, Faizer Mustapha had a discussion last week with Malaysian High Commissioner, Rosli Ismail and CEO of Asian German Sports Exchange Programme, (AGSEP) Dietmar Doering, regarding tours by German sports teams from Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden and
Meet: From Left. Deputy Minister of Tourism Faizer Mustapha, Malaysian High Commissioner Rosli Ismail, CEO of AGSEP Dietmar Doering, Co-ordinators of Marketing of AGSEP Stefan Eggecs, Rebecca Schmalen and Assistant to CEO of AGSEP Isabelle Bogorinsky.
Magdeburg to Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
This would help to promote the two countries as tourist destinations.
AGSEP is presently launching this Campaign which will result in bringing German football, table tennis, volleyball, badminton and tennis teams to Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
Thirty clubs will visit each country next year that will foster closer relationships through sport events.

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SRI LANKA - Domestic tourism promotion likely to fail-experts

sundaytimes.lk, 25-6-2007

Initiatives on domestic tourism promotion undertaken by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) to assist the struggling sector is doomed to failure, say those in the travel industry.
According to the Managing Director of World Travel Center, Sudharma De Silva, the SLTB's 'intention is good but their action is wrong.' De Silva told The Sunday Times FT that for the first time in Sri Lanka, the SLTB Chairman Renton De Alwis and Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda are speaking out on domestic tourism but with no genuine interest. De Silva calls the domestic tourism promotion a 'temporary solution to hoteliers to fill their rooms' with no attention being given to developing a long term and viable solution to sustain the local market. His main point of contention with the SLTB is that they only think about domestic tourism when there is a problem in the country.

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SRI LANKA - Tourism to drive Sri Lanka's economic growth

eTN Asia, 27-12-2006

Sri Lanka is to start work on its newest tourism product—the Kalpitiya Lagoon, which is located on the northwest coast, according to latest reports from the island.
Announcing the government's decision, Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) chairman Udaya Nanayakkara said, "We have received the green light from the government to embark on the project."
The government said the project will consist of an 18-hole golf course, yacht marina, helipad, cable cars and up market accommodation with up to 3,000 rooms and is being seen as drive economic growth towards the country's tsunami recovery plans.
To be developed over 5,000 acres within a new tourist zone, the Kalpitiya Dutch Bay Island Project will be funded through the Embarkation Levy, imposed on travelers to fund development costs in the industry.
The project is expected to be completed in the next three years.

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THAILAND - Tsunami-stricken beaches revive, but survivors carry deep scars

Napavalleyregister.com, December 18, 2006

KHAO LAK, Thailand — Martin Bleck is still spooked by water. He vividly remembers the wave that swept him and his mother away, and the field of corpses through which he waded to safety. He chooses to live on high ground, away from the shore.

He has tsunami waves tattooed down his right arm.

But this amiable 20-year-old, a professional guitarist from Lisbon, Portugal, has chosen to return to the beaches where the tsunami struck Thailand two years ago, and to pour his heart into helping survivors like himself by teaching them English and guitar. It’s his way of coping with the nightmare and repaying a debt.

“There was something inside me that wanted to come back to help the people who helped me when I was in the worst situation in my life,” he says. “Some of the Thais had lost as many as eight children and still they looked after me. It was the least I could do.”

Within moments two years ago, the tsunami turned this tropical paradise into a graveyard for more than 5,000 Thais and foreign vacationers like Bleck. Around the Indian Ocean rim, some 230,000 people in a dozen countries were left dead or missing when an undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra unleashed the giant wave of Dec. 26, 2004.

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DEVELOPMENTS - Tourism Land-Grabs Mean Thousands of Tsunami Survivors in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand Remain Homeless

eTN, 6-12-2006

The pressure group Tourism Concern welcomes BBC 2’s two-part TV drama ‘Tsunami, The Aftermath’ which raises that most hidden of issues – why local people have not been able to move back home, nearly two years after the 2004 Boxing Day disaster in South East Asia. This is an outstanding opportunity for all of us to finally understand what happened to local people following the tsunami.

Tourism Concern’s report, “Post-tsunami reconstruction: a second disaster?” was the first to reveal back in October 2005 that it was very likely that people would be doubly displaced, first by the tsunami and then by opportunistic tourism development.

Tourism Concern is campaigning for displaced peoples’ rights to the coastal land and their involvement in the reconstruction process. Tricia Barnett, Director, said, “The tourism industry is treating the tsunami aftermath as an financial opportunity. This has resulted in strategic displacement of traditional fishermen communities from the coast and their livelihood. “ She continued, “The ongoing impacts on tsunami survivors, the loss of their livelihoods and natural resources are devastating and need to be addressed”.

In Sri Lanka, India and Thailand there is conflict between the needs of local communities affected by the tsunami and the plans of government and businesses to rapidly promote tourism in the area. Why is coastal land being used for tourism resorts while thousands of people are stuck in temporary housing? The governments of all affected countries prioritized high-end tourism development rather than the needs of local people. Many survivors were ordered by the government to live away from the sea and provided with housing that was too small, hot and inappropriate. Fishermen have been housed two miles inland.

Thai communities have said they are suffering from six ‘tsunamis’: the actual tidal wave; disorganized and divisive aid agencies; intrusive and insensitive press; landlords threatening eviction with violence; religious organizations trying to convert beneficiaries; and researchers and NGOs collecting information without giving any information.

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