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Lanka ready for Barmy Army invasion
By S.R. Pathiravithana
The arrival of the English cricketers to the island will take place on November 13 and along with them will come the invasion of the Barmy Army. Though not in full force, they will be vociferous.

The news of the partial invasion even may come as a sigh of relief to the local hospitality industry. The initial indications were that around 6-8 thousand tourists would arrive in the country and put the industry in a dilemma where the industry would go around 3000 rooms short, but, now the indications are that only around 4000 members of the Barmy Army will make their presence felt in Sri Lanka.

According to sources the reason for the drop in the arrival of the English toursists are due to three factors. First is that a major portion of them have travelled to Australia for the Rugby World Cup, the second being the England's tour of the West Indies right after their tour of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ( A lot is reported to have opted for the tour of the Caribbean. ) and the third is the fact that most Englishmen would opt to save their money for X'mas and try leave a bitter winter by January for the sunny isles of the Carribean.

The Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board Paddy Vitharana though concerned about the drop said that they were fully geared to cater to the arrivals. He also added that as a result of the tour offers made by operators some others than the members of the Barmy Army taken the opportunity to make a visit to Sri Lanka and there is sharp increase in the arrivals from England and all hotels are fully booked and the flights are also full. However he did not have the actual figures available.

Besides the question of accommodation for the influx of UK visitors the Board has made elaborate arrangements for off the field entertainment activities of the tourists. The Tourist Board have made arrangements for various events to take place at all locations where the English cricketers will play their matches.

At Dambulla where the first match will be played there will be more entertainment for the tourists outside the ground than inside. All activities will take place in and around the Ibbankatuwa Lake, adjacent to the ground. There will be Windsurfing at the Lake itself, hot air balloons and a kite show. Besides, this there will be food and beverage stalls.

In Kandy, during the Test match there will be a night bazaar catering the visitors as well as locals. Here, besides the food and beverages stalls, there will be Musical shows, beer stalls, fashion shows etc. The location in Kandy will be opposite the Police Grounds. The same form of activity will take place in Colombo and Galle. Locations being -- Greenpath in Colombo (subject to UDA approval) or the Galle Face green and the Galle Ramparts.

The tourist Board is also making arrangements and have put out a special brochure explaining all these activities and make it available for the tourists at all hotels.
Jayantha Kudahetty, the head of the Marketing division of Sri Lanka Cricket said that they had learned from the shortcomings that they experienced from the last tour of England to Sri Lanka.(One day Kandy ran out of beer) This time they are fully geared even to handle 8000 visitors at the venues.

The cricket authorities of Sri Lanka has informed the product suppliers to gear themselves to any situation, while Ravin Wickremaratne of the Tour Co-ordinating Committee of the Sri Lanka Cricket also confirmed that they are ready for the tour. He said that they have made arrangements for a special enclosure for the Barmy Army. Besides this Sri Lanka Cricket will also have a special season ticket for all Test Matches and another Special Enclosure for this facility. ( This facility will only be available for the tourists ). At this facility there will be 2000 seats and the season ticket will be priced at only Rs.6000 per match, with a 20% discount over the five days.

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