Making tourism our greatest asset by improving travel facilities

Much hype is created these days with respect to the arrival of visitors from overseas to Sri Lanka, a country seen as paradise by many visitors.

However, have we geared ourselves to meet the growing need of travel for visitors as well as locals who wish to explore the natural beauty of the country? The modes of transport available are bicycles, motorcycles, threewheelers, cars, buses, trains and air transport. Travel within the country is a slow process in Colombo, outside Colombo, leave alone to the places of interest. The travel speed within the country is less than 30 km/hour.

The travel time to Kandy is around four hours, to Anuradhapura five –six hours, to the East seven-eight hours, the exception being Galle / Matara due to the availability of an expressway. But reaching the expressway entrance at Kottawa, Panadura, Kaduwela, Kadawatha from Colombo can take 30 – 40 minutes.

There are many under-utilized airfields within the country controlled by the Air Force. Only a few are used for commercial purposes such as Ratmalana, Jaffna, Trincomalee, just to name three. The rest are well maintained by the Air Force but under-utilized for domestic passenger air travel.

If the Government and Tourism Ministry are interested in developing facilities for visitors who waste a lot of time on the road at great risk to life and limb, economical domestic air transport must be encouraged.

There are airfields in the following areas which were developed by the British such as Minneriya, Sigiriya, Iranamadu, Vavuniya, Puttalam, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Ampara, Hambantota, Weerawila, Koggala, Katukurunda - a total of 11 under-utilised domestic airports within the country. The Air Force itself can start a domestic air service and earn additional revenue to maintain the airfields.

There are also many inland lakes where amphibious aircraft can be used. Kandy, Nuwara Eliya can be serviced by amphibious aircraft. There is no need to build expensive airports as ventured out a few years back. Maldives runs the most profitable, efficient and largest amphibious aircraft fleet, of course outsourced to carriers.

In order to be competitive, a Domestic Open Air Policy must be implemented. There are many private sector air transport companies in operation. They must be encouraged to have a daily shuttle service at competitive fares. The current air charges for domestic flights are exorbi- tant thus discouraging domestic air travel. If domestic air transport is available end-to-end travel time can be reduced from the current 4 – 8 hrs to under one hour. An Air Ambulance Service too can be started if necessary from all parts of the country. The private sector and Air Force operate a Helicopter Service but again, the rates per hour are exorbitant and not attractive for Domestic Tourist Transport.

Tourism can be one of the greatest assets in the country. On that note, infrastructure and rest room facilities at tourist attractions too need to be improved.

Tissa Jayaweera Via email