At the sight of white Skin

“India and Sri Lanka caters only for one type of tourist, the very rich. There are luxurious five star hotels that can be categorised as good accommodation. For the middle range tourist there are hardly any decent places to stay for reasonable prices particularly outside of the beach areas.”
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By Helasingha Bandara

(August 05, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There is talk now to raise hotel room charges on assumption that the influx of Western tourists to Sri Lanka would increase since the war has ended. How wise is this move when most of the tourist infrastructure is absent in Sri Lanka and some of the East Asian countries are more attractive in many ways to the tourist! India has a very poor tourist industry to draw lessons from. Maldives is a unique exception that is favoured by the tourist for its numerous islands of varying sizes which Sri Lanka is not blessed with. Sri Lanka can develop its own strategy or learn a bit from East Asia, Malaysia or Thailand. Hong Kong and Singapore examples may not help as these small countries have an exclusive tourist industry for the very rich.

The negatives

Sri Lanka tourist industry stakeholders, no mater whether it is the hotel managers and their employees, traders or the touts, at the sight of white skin jump to the conclusion that they are rich . Consequently all prices go up. Invariably the local minds start ticking as to how to squeeze more money out of the tourist. The greed does not know bounds and ends up in all forms of scams as if that is the last tourist who would tread on this land. The majority of those tourists are just ordinary people who sacrifice many life comforts to save some money to go on a good holiday. They would not hesitate to buy goods or services for the value. Yet they are no fools so as not to understand the evils of the tourist trade in our country and it would not take long for the world to reject us for our cunning and craftiness as the globe has become the global village, thanks to the communication revolution. It is wise for the stakeholders of the tourist industry to acknowledge this and make sure that the confidence of the tourist on safety and fair-play is boosted.

India and Sri Lanka caters only for one type of tourist, the very rich. There are luxurious five star hotels that can be categorised as good accommodation. For the middle range tourist there are hardly any decent places to stay for reasonable prices particularly outside of the beach areas. Thailand and Malaysia cater for the middle range tourist and attract many tourists. In Thailand a tourist can get a very decent room for £10 to £15 per night. The very low crime rate and tough attitude of the tourist police to scammers add value. Talibanised Buddhist rules are absent and the people are very tolerant and liberal. SL has to be more creative and innovative to attract tourists rather than pinning hopes on the newly dawned peace.

India charges 20 Rs from the local as admission to the Taj Mahal as opposed to the foreigner, including the poor Sri Lanka pilgrim, who is charged at 200 Rs. The records say that Sri Lanka Buddhist monks were responsible for the restoration and maintenance of most of the Buddhists sights in India. For visiting these sights poor SL pilgrims are charged much more than the local Indians who have done nothing to preserve them. On both fiscal and ethical considerations India has not set a good example for SL to learn from. However the Sri Lanka tourist Board has not done better when it has imposed exorbitant prices for the sights like Sigiriya for the tourist in comparison with the price they charge from the local. When the tourist buys a ticket for the sacred area of the ancient city of Anuradhapura the spontaneous assumption of the tourist is that he has paid the money to see all different places within the area. He would only be disillusioned when he realises that he has to pay again to enter individual sights. In Britain for example it is only one price for all. Is it not a good idea?

The attitude that ‘this is the last customer and we should squeeze every penny out of him’ has failed us. The conclusion that all white people are rich has misled us. The instinct to sell whatever goods or services for the highest price irrespective of the quality has given us a bad reputation. The ignorance of our own strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities has made us weak. The extreme optimism has blurred our vision. Be realistic!

-Sri Lanka Guardian