Spices of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has long been renowned for its spices.The best known is Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world who came to Sri Lanka brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques.Lamprais rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by meatballs, all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat.

                        Matale area is the most famous destination for the spicy gardens in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankans use spices liberally in their dishes and typically do not follow an exact recipe: thus, every cook's curry will taste slightly different. Furthermore, people from different regions of the island (for instance, hill-country dwellers versus coastal dwellers) traditionally cook in different ways. Sri Lankan cuisine is known to be among the world's spiciest, due to the high use of different varieties of chilliees referred to as chilli paperes(, kochchi miris, and maalu miris and in Tamil Milakaai, among others. It is generally accepted for tourists to request that the food is cooked with a lower chillie content to cater for the more sensitive Western pallette. Food cooked for public occasions typically uses less chillie than food cooked in the home, the latter where the food is cooked with the chillie content preferable to the occupants.

Eco tourism and Economic Oppotunities

Tourism is an important sector to develop to derive the economic benefits fro the people of the country. There is a growing acceptance of links that exist between protection of ecosystems and economic opportunities emerging through tourism. These opportunites must be developed to find employment opportunities for the youth as well as to make valuable contribution to the national economy.

Increased interest in natural areas provided the authorities with a powerful incentive to protect the environment, as well as with the income from tourism to pay for conservation of environment. A part of the the revenue coming from the tourists must be utilized to protect the environment.

Many environmentalists and managers of tourism industy and nature reserves turned to ecotourism as a source of revenue for protected areas. This was part of a general realization of the need to improve the sustainability of all tourism.


Ruwan Gamage
Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management
Uva-wellassa University

Development of Tourism in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean, also often called the “The Pearl of the Indian Ocean”.Tourism in Sri Lanka has had its ups and downs. Such things like the civil war is now over, but for the past thirty years that the war was ongoing, a lot of people feared to travel to Sri Lanka and the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami . But despite all these events, the tourism in Sri Lanka is still one of the major profit generating industries.

Sri Lanka may be a small island, but it has a lot to offer. From its beautiful beaches, to their exotic foods and diverse cultural heritage. The tropical weather in Sri Lanka is all year round except for the monsoon season which usually ranges from mid-year to the end of the year. Foreigners visit often to be in the warm weather. Sri Lanka has so many beautiful beaches that are still untouched and not commercialized.

Over one million tourists came to Sri Lanka in 2012. Other up and coming tourist attractions are precious stone mining in Ratnapura, “The Gem City” as it is known and also ecotourism. Travelers today like the idea of travelling while also doing their part to help preserve the environment.

Buddhism has the biggest influence in molding Sri Lanka’s diverse cultural heritage and also a big factor in drawing in the crowds to Sri Lanka. From temples, relics, religious landmarks and Ayurveda. Sri Lanka has started its campaign on ecotourism and spa-like ayurvedic treatments, banking on the diverse flora and fauna found there.

                                                       Namunukula Mountain

No matter what natural disaster or civil war comes upon Sri Lanka, its beauty and purity have made its mark on the world. There is no doubt that Sri Lankan tourism today is expected to reap the benefits after thirty years of struggle and the tragic tsunami, with hope and bright prospects on the horizon.


Ruwan Gamage
Hospitality,Tourism and Events Management
Uva-wellassa University

Tourism in Sri Lanka

Tourism is a very popular industry in the entire world. Today tourism is a fast developing industry even in Sri Lanka.

Our country has an abundance of naturally attractive places to lure tourists. These places enhance the scenic beauty of our country.

There are many picturesque waterfalls and mountains, golden sandy beaches, forests, botanical gardens and wildlife sanctuaries that are frequented by tourists.

Historical places such as Anuradhapura,Polonnaruwa, Kandy,Yapahuwa,Dambulla, Dambadeniya and Sigiriya attract tourists from various parts of the world to visit Sri Lanka.

They appreciate the beauty of these places. It’s a pride when foreigners appreciate the beauty of our Motherland.When many foreigners visit our country throughout the year, it is economically beneficial to the country.

We can derive lots of benefits from tourism and we must promote it for the development of our country. We can earn foreign exchange for the country. Hotels, restaurants, guides and comfortable transportation facilities in the country help to promote tourism.

Sri Lankan people can also learn languages and improve their knowledge about different cultures, food, lifestyles and many more things around the world via tourism.

Tourism is also a good way to display our skills to the world. Sri Lankan handicrafts and traditional food can be easily promoted.

However, tourism also has a negative impact on Sri Lanka because many youth are influenced by the cultures of some countries which are not suitable for our country.

Some people try to imitate cultures of these tourists. But, we must not do so. We must protect our traditions. Sometimes tourists try to give drugs to our youth and influence them to do wrong things.

Tourism has some disadvantages too, so we must take necessary steps to avoid them and promote only the good things it brings.

Ruwan Gamage
Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management
Uva -wellassa University

Other locations near by Arugambay

In my earlier post i mentioned about arugambay. Arugambay  is very seasonal place. May to October fully crowded in beach  area but after the season we can not see even small group of visitors. That is the most pitiable situation faced by hoteliers in arugambay. Most of the small hoteliers are closed their places in off season. If we want to  develop arugambay as a real tourist destination we have to ignore this seasional effects. Therefor we can promote other destinations which are very closed to arugambay area. Below you can see some places , you can visit when you are travelling through arugambay.

                             Muhudu maha viharaya ( 1km from pothuvil town to panama road).

                   Magul maha viharaya, Lahugala ( 12km to Monaragala road from Pothuvil).

Kota vehera viharaya, Lahugala ( 10km to Monaragala road from Pothuvil).

1. Magul maha viharaya, Lahugala ( 12km to Monaragala road from Pothuvil).
2. Kota vehera viharaya, Lahugala ( 10km to Monaragala road from Pothuvil).
3. Okanda devol ( 33km , from Pothuvil to Okanda)
4. Kumana National Park( 33km, from Pothuvil to Kumana)
5. Kudumbigala monastry complex ( 42km from pothuvil)

1. Lahugala national park ( 9km from Pothuvil)

Current situation of tourism at Arugambay

The surfing season in Arugam Bay starts in May and the thousands of people who are dependant on the tourism industry in this Eastern coastal village in Sri Lanka eagerly await the arrival of the highest number of tourists this year. The tourism industry in the country is booming after the end of terrorism in 2009 and Arugam Bay is now ready to regain its full potential.
Arugam Bay is one of the world's top 10 surf locations, known for its fantastic waves, which attract surfers from all over the world. The best time for surfing here is between May and November when strong winds are offshore for at least the first half of the day.
However, some small scale hoteliers, tour guides and shop owners are disappointed because still there are only a few tourists at Arugam Bay. They have several reasons for the delay in tourist arrivals. Some of them believe that the IPL cricket series in India is one reason and that tourist arrivals will increase after the games are over.
A lodge owner said that a large number of local tourists visiting here has caused various issues and as a result the beach is now less attractive to foreign tourists. He said that some drunken local visitors harass foreigners and as a result foreign tourists are reluctant to come to the beach during the weekends. The officer in-charge of the police post at Arugam Bay beach said there were no complaints. However, the police regularly patrol the area and is vigilant on such developments.

A. Dixcey, a teacher from the Isle of Wight in England was ready to leave for surfing in the early morning. The only thing she is worried about is the difficulty she faces while travelling by public transport. Hospitality of the locals, quality of the servicein hotels.   she stays in is excellent and cost affordable, she said.
The basic infrastructure in the area has improved making access to this remote coastal fishing village easy.
Reduction in travel time is unbelievable. It took only 40 minutes to travel from Siyambalanduwa to Arugam Bay and one-and a half-hours from Moneragala town.
The longest STF check point at Siyambalanduwa junction during the conflict era is no more and there are no obstacles for travellers other than traffic police whoare vigilant on high speed drivers.
Water supply and electricity are also restored but some hoteliers said the frequent interruption to the supply caused issues for them. They said these issues affect their service and they cannot keep their clients happy. As the number of tourists visiting here increases, environment issues emerge. Hoteliers said that the local authority is not efficient to keep the area clean and garbage collection does not take place properly.
To make Arugam Bay an attractive tourist destination the local authority needs to do something more than what the ordinary Municipal Council or Pradeshiya Sabha does.
There are no facilities for the large number of local tourists visiting. Most of them visit for a sea bath. Public toilets, fresh water and houses are needed for them, because they cannot afford hotels and lodges. Most of them do not stay the night over.

K.H. Chandrasena, the owner of the Sashini Beach resort  said that foreign tourists who come here for surfing usually stay for a long period of time. Some of them look for low cost lodgings and therefore cabanas at his resort are fully occupied during the season. He runs the hotel without professional staff.
He said that most of the small hoteliers are reluctant to invest money to improve their hotels due to construction restriction limits enforced by the government.
The government has banned construction in 50m limit from the shore, but this is not yet enforced. There are hundreds of small lodges in the area but only a few high end hotels.
Accommodation facilities have to be developed and there should be regulations and standards for these small hotels and lodges as the quality of the rooms, meals and services are extremely poor.
To meet the government's targets in tourism special attention has to be paid to the many opportunities and issues in each tourist destination. Arugam Bay is a unique place and issues highlighted by stakeholders should be taken seriously by the authorities to make tourism at Arugam Bay sustainable.

Arugambay

                                                    Beauty of Arugambay

Lovely arugambay is one of the worlds top 10 surf locations , known for its fantastic waves. Arugambay is a bay situated on the indian ocean in the dry zone  of srilankan’s southeast coast. The bay is located 320 km due east of Colombo. Arugambay world famous for surfing, wind surfing, Kite surfing, Body surfing and Scuba diving. But arugambay is very close to Hambanthota harbor(170km) and Mattala Airport(155km).

Arugam surf point has a very long , consistent , section hand break. In the mid 2010 ASP(Association of surfing professionals) hosted it’s first international surf contest in the bay. 

From April to October it has the best surfing waves in Srilanka, but arugambay is also a great place to unwind eat seafood and enjoy a mellow party scene. During the low season (November to April) things get very quiet,  visitors still come for weekend getaways and the sea is better for swimming. At any time of year the surroundings region offers some superb opportunities for viewing birdlife , Fishing, underwater photography ,crocodiles , elephants and also religious places like Kudumbigala, Magul maha viharaya , Muhudu maha viharaya , Okanda kovil .