Hope and a wish that never again should we see, an era as dark as the 3o
years we saw in our recent history and the several other sad conflicts where
several thousand young lives were lost in vain. Tourism’s potential for making
peace was explored in this column written in June, 2010, a year after the end
of the war on terrorism in the ‘Daily Financial Times, Sri Lanka’. Today’s is a
repost of that article.
We in tourism have always been victims of the political games that are
played. Be it, unstable governance
structures, tensions and conflicts between countries, recessions, pandemics,
concerns about global warming, uneasy trade negotiations, racial conflicts, environmental
disasters, street demonstrations, student unrest, revolts or deadly terrorist
movements; every socio-economic or political upheaval or event has and will hurt
and/or impact tourism. To have stability, devoid of these for travel and tourism,
is a basic need. Safety, security and a calm atmosphere in and around a tourist
destination, is a given pre-requisite for its sustenance and development.
In the main, and sometimes regretfully, we in tourism have played the role
of uninvolved bystanders during these upheavals and events and have lived in hope
that they will go away. We have treated them mostly as externalities and never
attempted to do our bit to help resolve them. Our thirty year struggle with
terrorism and the many ups and downs tourism had since 1983 are a clear
indicator of how bad things can be. As an industry, our tourism was grasping
for breath, yearning for new leases of life, with each bad incident and
escalation in violence. We called ourselves resilient and with each hit, dusted
ourselves, gathered the pieces and moved on to rebuild and regain what little
we could.
Thankfully, that new lease of life has now begun. Terrorism was militarily
defeated. Many of our citizens in the armed forces as well as civilians gave
their lives to bring that resolve to our Motherland. There is relative peace
and calm all around. Potent attempts are made to reach-out to those who have
been innocent victims of this struggle as well as ex-combatants, to bring back normalcy
to their lives. Reconciliation and unification is sought where honour and
dignity of those involved, need be guaranteed.
On the part of tourism, investors, strategists, service providers and
operators are all rushing-in to catch up on lost time. Land-grabs are on and
each looks for the best and the most scenic place to build a hotel or a resort.
Bankers who were once tight fisted, being hurt with tourism lending, are now
sporting inviting smiles. We have recorded near 50 per cent increases of our
tourist arrivals compared with the last year. Foundation stones are laid for new
hotels and resorts that are soon to be built. The Yal Devi is once again on its
tracks and the A-9 road opens new vistas for developing the North for tourism.
Hundreds of thousand Southern pilgrims are visiting the North, often placing a
strain on the limited resources available. There is free flow of people of all
races, and goods of all sizes, between these areas. Already, the East is seeing
a revival with Passikudah, Vakarai, Trincomalee and Nilaveli being energised.
Arugam-bay which was a potent destination for surfers even during troubled
times is now once again becoming a vibrant place.
This movement of travel and tourism is indeed a potent thrust for human
interaction. It needs sensitive handling and much care in its nurturing. For us
in the industry there are many lessons to be learnt. We can not expect that all
of this will continue to be the same, without an effort from us to make sure
that it will continue to be that way. In
the past, whenever we were hurt, we looked toward state’s help. Reschedule
loans, tax breaks for imports for refurbishment, preferential electricity tariffs
were calls made at every meeting of industry personnel. Even in adversity the
State did what it could to support the much touted public-private partnership
that is tourism in Sri Lanka.
Today, from a pure business sense, there is relative peace and an
environment where tourism can thrive. But it may not be all rosy as may seem.
There are UN probes, an active semblance among the Diaspora working to
undermine whatever is done to build national reunification and the EU
concessions of GST for the apparel industry are hanging in the balance. Within
our culture of undermining even the best of initiatives if ‘they are from those
we do not support’; even cocktail circuit talk, focus more on the negatives
than the positives.
It is time that we as an industry realize that we need to actively support
peace, national reunification and the sustenance of outcomes that are good, if
we are to continue to gain from the tough achievements that have been made in
being rid of terrorism. What is needed is active involvement in the process, by
an industry whose very survival depends on the continuance of a peaceful
environment. Peace is elusive and must not be taken for granted. Each of our
drops of assertive contributions will go on to making what it takes to keep it
all in place. Those in tourism cannot afford to be uninvolved bystanders
anymore. There is a now a dire need to do whatever; however we can to further
the process of national reconciliation and nurture the relative peace that has
been achieved.
For tourism can indeed be a potent thrust for ensuring lasting peace for
our Motherland. What we need to do is to factor that in strongly, into our
operational agenda.
No comments:
Post a Comment