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Kandakuliya beach disappoints tourists as sea erosion takes its toll
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Kalpitiya's golden beach is fast losing its lustre
By Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe
The recent rains have aggravated the sea erosion at the Kandakuliya beach, a popular destination for foreign tourists.
Local tourism businesses said the beach’s beauty has attracted a large number of tourists over the past 20 years, generating significant foreign exchange. But the sea erosion had caused a decline in tourist arrivals to the beach in the Kalpitiya peninsula, which has around 150 tourist hotels and guest houses. The area is popular among foreign tourists, especially those who are interested in kitesurfing.
Wasantha Withanage
Hoteliers lamented that they had made great efforts to develop tourism in the area, but beach erosion had dashed their dreams, causing a dramatic decline in the number of tourists visiting the beach for sunbathaing and other activities.
Thilak Dias Abeyratne, who was one of the first to start a tourism business in the area, said, “When we were about to obtain the results of our hard work, the sea had been unkind to us.”
He blamed the responsible officials for not taking meaningful measures to preserve the beach and added they should actively intervene and take action.
Hotel Owners Association President Wasantha Withanage said they had shown the world the images of the pristine beach to attract tourists, but when the tourists came and saw the damage that had occurred to the beach, they cancelled hotel bookings and went away.
“We now remove the photos of Kandakuliya beach posted on our websites, as the beauty which is shown in the pictures cannot be seen these days,” he said.
The Coast Conservation Department’s Assistant Director (Puttalam), Maduni Fernando, said that they are preparing to take measures to preserve the beach.
Thilak Dias Abeyratne
She said they have advised hotel owners to make sand-filled gunny bag barriers at the sea to break the sea waves. Apart from that, they had also discussed the cost to build stone barriers.
Kalpitiya Divisional Secretary Mangala Ramanayake called for swift action to stop erosion and warned any delay would result in the loss of the beach.
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