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Tourism should be more than sun, sea, and surf
By N. Dilshath Banu
The boat arrived to take us to the other side of the river. Soon we were walking through a narrow winding path with different varieties of trees. Though it was 8 a.m., the morning chill still pervaded the air.

We were at the final session of a study programme held for a staff/student group from the San Jose State University, USA on the “Biological and Cultural Ecology of Sri Lanka” last Sunday at the Ranweli Holiday Village in Waikkal.
Prof. Sarath Kotagama, Professor of Environmental Science, Department of Zoology in the Colombo University and Chandra de Silva, the CEO of Ranweli and Founder President of the Ecotourism Society were conducting the session.
Prof. Kotagama wrapping up the two-week sessions on ecology spoke on ‘bio diversity’ which he said was coined from biological diversity. Explaining biodiversity from the viewpoint of science, Prof. Kotagama said Sri Lanka has the highest number of species per square kilometre.

“We have 103 rivers which means our country is divided into 103 parts. The freshwater invertebrate inventory of Sri Lanka is considered to be the best documented in Asia. At the rapid rate of identification, we would get closer to Costa Rica, which has the highest number of species identified. However, the site specific inventories are inadequate, which means we do not know how many species exist in a specific area,” added Prof. Kotagama.

“Sixty of the flowering plants are endemic. Three out of four plants you see in Sinharaja are endemics, which means you can only see them in Sri Lanka, nowhere else. The highest number of endemics is found in the wet zone.”
As evolution, hot spots and totally different topics such as waste management and family planning were covered during the discussion time, it was time for a break for tea and a field visit to see the different varieties of mangroves in the area.

Mr. de Silva then explained how mass tourism is transforming into ecotourism. “Tourism is one of the leading global industries. In 2000, nearly 700 million people were travelling around the world. However, mass tourism, focusing on beach tourism is all about sun, sand, sea and surf and sometimes, sex. These are the businesses which push people into the pleasure periphery, which is eating, drinking and dancing, where the environment is given the least amount of consideration. Such activity-based tourism deteriorates not only the environment, but also the culture and lifestyle of the local community, especially in third world countries,” Mr. de Silva pointed out.

Many local communities get corrupted by having bad deals with the tourists who come not to explore but to satisfy themselves in bad taste, incorporate negative values in the local communities, resulting in drug abuse, cross culture dressing (the tourist dress according to local culture, while the local community tries to imitate the foreigners), and other negative impacts.

The reason for this negative impact, according to Mr. de Silva, is that the tourism sector is not driven by intellectuals. “Anybody can build hotels but it needs intellectual minds to see it bloom in the right way,” he said
“It’s not a matter of putting up five star hotels with a large quantity of drink, many carpets and chandeliers, but giving the tourists the taste of nature blended with culture. That is what is called ecotourism,” emphasized Mr. de Silva.

“Ecotourism includes experiencing events, lifestyles, cultures, the political outlook and theological views different from what you encounter at home. It also includes responsible travel to natural and cultural areas and to conserve the environment and sustain the wellbeing of local people. At Ranweli, we are doing that. The local community is involved with our activities,” he said.
Sri Lanka has many diverse cultural, religious, historic sites and people to promote, than just beach and lust for sun, stressed Mr. de Silva.

The American participants received their certificates from the Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Science M.A.K Lakshman Dissanayake
The day’s programme ended with a boat ride, along the Gin Oya, to see the several bird and butterfly species within the 23 acres of land of the Ranweli Holiday Village, home to some 100 species of birds, 54 species of butterflies, 11 mammals, five reptiles, 9 amphibians and 25 species of fish.

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