By Dimithri Wijesinghe
During these times of the pandemic, while travel has taken a backseat, we pondered on the rising tide of foreign travellers were making their way over to Asia just before the world went into lockdown, giving their two cents on its culture, food and lifestyles, the various ways we suffered, and how we are recovering.
Recently, renowned British travel photographer Jord Hammond visited Sri Lanka and did a great service to the town of Gampola and the Ambuluwawa Biodiversity Complex by publishing his gorgeous capture of the tower, which encouraged a number of locals to actually wade their way to the city and take a look for themselves.
Jord wrote of his experience in the island as follows: “Rich in biodiversity, everything from beaches to rainforests, hill stations, tea plantations, and wild elephants. However, the pristine nature found throughout the island masks the troubles the country has been through in recent years, such as the 2004 tsunami and a civil war which lasted 25 years. Despite this, the people are some of the friendliest in the world, and the photo opportunities are endless.”
Jord’s account was published in August 2019, and even still a reference was made to our post-conflict situation; while it is all true, we wonder at what point “beauty despite being a post-conflict nation” would stop becoming our identity so we can move on to simply being a beautiful travel destination.
Many chose to gloss over hundreds and thousands of years of conflict, war, and colonialism while some acknowledge it, albeit somewhat slightly in a “light hearted manner” for backstory and to set the scene.
Andrew Solomon of Condé Nast writes in his piece: “Sri Lanka Is Ready for Its Close-Up’: “Sri Lanka has managed a rapid shift from some of the most horrific carnage in recent history – a civil war that raged for more than 25 years and produced 100,000 casualties – to a peace that not only unites the country’s previously divided ethnicities but reflects the experience of any visitor to the island.”
If you are Sri Lankan, you may feel this could not be further from the truth; “previously” divided ethnicities are not the words you may choose, especially if you are part of the minority and after the Easter Sunday attacks, one may find it more difficult to reconcile that.
However, while the glossy portrayal of post-war nations may appear as ignorant and insensitive to some, these internal conflicts that still remain and the remnants of our colonial hangover and all that goes with it are indeed rapidly changing, and the fact of the matter is it has and will be in this changing state for quite some time. However, it can be understood that what we mustn’t do is to get hung up on it.
We can sit and wallow about how Andrew Solomon is expressing his “White privilege” and ignorance by insisting that all is fine and dandy; even Jord, as he chooses to brush over our war-torn history to the “good stuff”, of what is relevant to his audience who are photography enthusiasts looking to travel to mind-blowingly beautiful destinations. What good would it do for him to stress on our conflicts when he can show his audience exactly what they are looking for?
We asked a number of expats who are quite well travelled in their own right, to share their thoughts on the matter of whether Sri Lanka in their opinion is still suffering from our past or whether we are truly “ready for our close-up”.
After the war, a lot of our own people became less shy/scared to explore Sri Lanka themselves. This in turn gave a lot of exposure to places which were unheard of before the war. I believe our local travel bloggers and social media (personalities) had a huge role to play in bringing that Lonely Planet title to Sri Lanka. As far as I know, the war had little effect on us being perceived as a tourist destination, but we’d need a lot of work to move past last year’s terror attack. This year hasn’t been entirely kind on tourism either.
Sri Lanka has shown a lot of resilience in overcoming everything it’s been through. Every time I come back home, I find it has become more and more accessible to the outside world, with unique ways to accommodate foreign travellers. These developments, coupled with a whole lot of natural beauty and friendly people, make it super welcoming – not just for foreign travellers, but also for locals re-experiencing home.
The most comparable country to Sri Lanka that I have visited is Peru; it portrays similar levels of income and is at the initial stages of economic growth fuelled largely by tourism. To compare, I can say that our people and hospitality have always been a strength of ours. However, what I have come to notice is that this stands to be true in most countries that are at the initial stages of promoting tourism. So I wonder whether this is a “stand out” factor anymore. I’ve seen this in Cuba, Peru.
The biggest weakness in my opinion is the lack of knowledge regarding conservation of wildlife and nature. All our tour guides in Peru had an abundance of knowledge on their surroundings and briefed at regular intervals on how important it is for us to protect it. I rarely see this from our local tour guides, probably because we are missing a planned approach to tourism in general. Tour guides are the face of our tourism industry – they are the first impression for a tourist. The responsibility of making a trip worthwhile and memorable rests on his/her shoulders. I would like to see better regulations around this so that tourism becomes more “ethical” and sustainable rather than just a money-making exercise.
However, no other country can compare to us in our beauty and the variety of the experiences that Sri Lanka (in its comparatively small land area) has to offer. You barely need to take a flight for a change of scenery – it really is something we take for granted.
Sri Lanka will always and forever be home to me. But in recent years, it has also become my favourite holiday destination. Every summer when I think of travelling somewhere new, I end up going back to Sri Lanka because there are so many places I haven’t seen. Sri Lanka has definitely hit it off as a top travel/bucket list destination for many foreigners, and a lot of people I meet here in Canada say they want to travel to Sri Lanka someday.
Compared to other travel destinations I’ve been to (like Bali, Bangkok, and Penang), it’s interesting how tourist attractions in Sri Lanka still have the local life intact and move in tandem with the travel industry. Even in the heart of Galle Fort, you see people’s homes and functioning schools and court complexes, which is unique compared to other more commercialised tourist destinations across the world.
I feel envious sometimes when I watch videos of foreign travel vloggers visiting places in Sri Lanka that I have never been before.
While those who criticise may say that someone who is a foreigner may not be able to truly see Sri Lanka for what it is and how Sri Lankans themselves are suffering from everything it has gone through – from the times of colonisation to the war and the Easter Sunday attacks; we also need to be appreciative of the exposure we receive because of them.
After all, don’t we all want the same thing? For Sri Lanka to be renowned globally, so much so that our tourism industry is able to finally raise its head from the harsh times it had to suffer?
Photo Pradeep Dambarage