FEATURE SRI LANKA
Kandy's Temple of the Tooth is home to a tooth relic of Lord Buddha
attractions is expanding fast. In those early heady days after the
cessation of hostilities in 2009, a string of ‘new attractions' were immediately opened up to international visitors, most significantly Yala National Park, known for its elephants and leopard populations, and the previously out-of- bounds pristine beaches on the east coast.
This summer Pigeon Island
National Park in Trincomalee, in the east of the country, opened. The
marine park has the best coral reefs in the country along with a large number of bird species, mammals and plant varieties.
In the far south Mirissa is fast
establishing itself as one of the world's top whale and dolphin watching locations (December to mid April), while Trincomalee is another spot for excellent sightings.
At Rekawa beach on the south coast,
between April and September hawksbill and leatherback turtles lay their eggs on the moon-splashed sands. Visitors pay a
Opposite page: Leopard cub in Yala; Rock Fortress of Sigiriya, Sunset over one of the country's many 'tanks' This page: Polommarawa, a southern beach; Big Buddah at Dambulla.
fee that goes towards the Turtle Conservation Project. Not surprisingly, the far north, which was off-limits for many years, has been slower to open up but even Jaffna has seen the opening of four three-star hotels since 2009.
Both a city and seaport, emerging tourist attractions include Casuarina beach, Hindu temples, Keeraimalai baths, Dutch forts and Chundikulam Sanctuary, a marine-protected area with a large population of flamingos, terns, marsh eagles and many other birds.
Foreign passport-holders no longer have to receive approval by the country’s Ministry of Defence for travel to northern areas.
Sri Lanka’s other main
draw card is value for money. The 2011 UK Post Office Long Haul
Holiday Report put Sri Lanka top of a list of long-haul
countries concluding that it “offers
the best value by far. The destination is the most attractive long haul getaway for the coming winter season, around 38 per cent cheaper than Thailand, the runner-up.” While the pace of tourism
development has been slowed by the recession the country is busy positioning itself to be a future major player of Indian Ocean tourism. Several hotel groups are eyeing vacant
land and investment groups have ambitious plans for new resorts. Currently on the drawing board are plans for two Shangri-La hotels, in Colombo (2014) and Hambantota (2013), and two Starwood properties. A super-sleek highway from Colombo to Galle, which was due to open last
SRI LANKA Top Selling Tips...
• Perfect for a twin-centre... “Sri Lanka makes an ideal twin-centre with the Maldives, with a short flight between the two destinations. Both can be found in Kuoni’s Indian Ocean brochure and Honeymoons & Weddings brochure”
SHEENA PATON market manager, Indian Ocean, Kuoni
• Picturesque beaches... “Sri Lanka has some of the most picturesque beaches in the world: The Southern coast includes Kikkaduwa, Bentota, Galle, Mirissa and Weligama, best visited between October and April. Suggest the little- know palm-fringed Tangalla, two hours from Galle”
STEVE HARTRIDGE travel journalist
• See elephants in the wild... “Sri Lanka is one of the best places in the world to observe elephants in the wild. See them at national parks that include the recently-opened Wilpattu (north), Minneriya (central) and Gal Oya and Yala (south)”
GEHAN DE SILVA WIJEYERATNE wildlife guide
month, will reduce driving times between the two cities by a significant two hours (making it a1.5-hour journey), and a second international airport taking shape near Hambantota, in the south, will open up both the south and the isolated east coast when it opens in late 2012. It’ll be a while before the country’s
domestic airports, which were left in ruins by the war, are rebuilt and a domestic flight network is up and running, however ‘sea taxis’, operated by Sri Lankan Airlines (
www.srilankan. lk) and bookable on the airline’s website, are now flying visitors between places such as Colombo and Kandy and Colombo and Anuradhpura, taking advantage of the country’s many ‘tanks’, or reservoirs. A Colombo-Jaffna service is due to start in the coming weeks. Added Perera: “We have very ambitious targets in terms of our hoped for tourism numbers – 2.6 million by 2016 – and the UK is key to this growth. India is our biggest market in terms of numbers but the UK is top when it comes to spend. “We get around 100,000 UK visitors,
but when you think Thailand and Malaysia attract four or five times that number I think there is a great potential to substantially grow further out of the
www.sellinglonghaul.com • December 2011 19
Selling Tip “Hot air ballooning is available in Dambulla, Sigiriya and Habarana"
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