A Look Back at a Stopover in Colombo

It’s no mean feat: Sri Lanka topped the list of Lonely Planet’s countries to visit in 2019.

To appreciate the scope of this achievement, you have to put it in perspective. Countries big and small around the world are vying to catch tourists’ fancy through impressive marketing campaigns, and unique value propositions.

In Asia alone, there is stiff competition from countries with bigger budgets and catchy tag lines.

Incredible India. Amazing Thailand. China Like Never before. The timeless charm of Vietnam. The list goes on.

And then, there is the “Wonder of Asia,” Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan Tourism Promotion Bureau probably has a positioning dilemma.

You want tourists to view Sri Lanka as a primary destination. But, there may be merit in also promoting it as a secondary destination in the region. Many countries have benefited from such associations. Scotland and Ireland, Prague and Budapest, Singapore and Malaysia, India and Nepal are just a few examples.

When I visited Colombo around a year ago, it was a secondary destination for me.

I was flying to Chennai from Bangkok, and Colombo seemed like the perfect city for a two-day stopover. My goal was to get a feel for Colombo, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. The country’s main tourist draws, it’s beaches and islands, will have to wait.

I didn’t have an agenda. It was purely downtime.

My expectations of Colombo were modest. After all, Sri Lanka was a country on the mend. The twenty-six years of bloody civil war had ensured that.

Countries take time to rebuild.

The coconut trees that lined the streets en route to the Hotel Taj Samudra, reminded me of Kerala, the southern Indian state where I originally hail from. Compared to many Indian cities, the volume of traffic appeared to be lighter and more orderly. The hotel, situated on Galle Face Road, offered perfect views of the Indian Ocean and the bustling beach across the road.

It didn’t take me long to get a feel for the city’s collective psyche: cautious optimism.

The deep scars from the civil strife that killed over 100,000 people had not completely healed. Not everyone got what they wanted. But, there was a clear willingness to put it behind and move forward.

There were signs of progress.

Cranes silhouetted the city’s skyline, a testament to the country’s increasing number of construction projects and the jobs that came with it. China had shown up as a white knight to solve Sri Lanka’s financial woes. Investments were pouring in. Amid skepticism that the country may fall victim to debt-trap diplomacy, the Sri Lankan Government appeared to have taken a “wait and watch” approach to foreign investments.

Coming from Bangkok, I had had my fill of Buddhist temples and statues.

However, a tour of Colombo cannot be deemed complete without taking in a temple or two. Temples in Colombo were smaller and less ornate than the ones I visited in Bangkok. Buddha statues of different sizes and postures adorned the hallways of the temples and some public places such as parks.

If there was any religion-based discord within the community, it was lost on me.

Churches and mosques coexisted with the temples. Families with children, hawkers, and picnickers thronged Galle Face Green in the evenings to enjoy the beach and the street food in the largest open space in Colombo. 

Not trusting my system’s tolerance for street food, I walked the stretch of the beach to Galle Face Hotel, an iconic establishment built in 1864.

From the various restaurant and bar options, I chose the “In on the Green”, a small bar with a live band that covered music as varied as The Eagles, The Cranberries, and Imagine Dragons.

As you would expect, seafood, especially crab, is big in Colombo. Surprisingly, the Taj and the Galle Face Hotel did not offer a restaurant that specialized in Sri Lankan food.

Open spaces and well-maintained parks within the city gave Colombo a laidback vibe. While, the population within the metropolitan area of Colombo is pegged at 5.6 million, only around 750,000 people live in Colombo city, giving it a less crowded feel when compared to other South Asian cities of the same size.

As a people, Sri Lankans were friendly and helpful. They understand the impact that tourism has on the country’s economy. While major revenue sources such as exports of tea, garments, and agricultural products continue to grow, Sri Lanka had caught the attention of leisure seekers traveling to South Asia.

With 2.3 million visitors in 2018 generating over $3 billion in revenue, the tourism industry, as an economic sector is one that the country’s leaders don’t want to disrupt.

The bad guys may have managed to do just that — disrupt the tourism industry. Lonely Planet has now included a “warning” on their site regarding travel to Sri Lanka. 

The news of the terrorist attacks in Colombo, targeted at churches and hotels, came as a shock. The Taj Samudra, where I stayed, was just a four-minute walk from the Shangri-La Hotel, one of the sites targeted by the terrorists.

The scale and scope of the terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday are bound to take its toll on Sri Lanka’s fragile economy. Tourists planning to explore the beaches and attractions of Sri Lanka are likely to pause and reconsider their vacation options.

It is always hard to understand the motivations of individuals and groups who target innocent people with inhuman acts of violence. It is especially heinous when it is targeted at people who are in the process of rebuilding their lives. Hopefully, the Sri Lankan Government can move quickly to dispel any misgivings that keep tourists away.

But for now, there is a sense of déjà vu.