Financial Times

A string of attacks by the LTTE in the past few months could put Sri Lanka’s tourism industry on the back-peddle for the second time in less than two years.

Just as the industry was recovering from the devastation of the tsunami which almost ruined the popular southern coastal resorts, a suspected LTTE attack on a bus near the main navy camp at Welisara, just outside Colombo, has triggered yet another of the many security alerts that we are all too familiar with in recent months.

That plus the attack on the army commander right inside the army headquarters compound; two tourists being injured as their van crossed a military vehicle on the Habarana-Trincomalee road that came under a landmine attack; travel warnings by various embassies not to visit war-affected areas in the north and the east, and attacks on NGO offices puts the security situation under strain and authorities and the private sector promoting tourism under a lot of stress.

Last week’s rebel strike at Welisara on a route that connects the Colombo airport with the capital – as described by news agencies – is even more serious for the industry which would have to respond to questions from international tour operators as to whether the route to the capital from the airport is safe for travel.

The Welisara attack was apparently - like many others - targeted at a security vehicle (navy bus) and not civilians. Yet would international operators be convinced that Sri Lanka is a safe place to visit and invite their clients to do so when LTTE attacks keep popping up in the city and the suburbs?

Sri Lanka Tourism was hoping to hit the 600,000-plus mark in arrivals this year but that could be a doubtful figure if the attacks continue, which is a possibility despite the fact that the government- LTTE talks in Oslo on issues relating to the role of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.

How then could the tourism and travel industry tackle this problem? Firstly there is a need for some order in this sector and a coming together of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board and its Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara and the two main tourism agencies representing hotels and inbound travellers. For too long the two sides have been at loggerheads – although we hear the relationship appears to have improved in recent times despite Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike not being able to meet the two associations to discuss the recent crisis – and the time has come, for the sake of the survival of the industry, for some reconciliation and a step down from hardened past positions.

One may argue that the industry hasn’t reached crisis levels to push panic buttons but are they going to wait for better days to emerge or risk more bombs going off in the city and key places of tourist interest (already Trincomalee must be virtually out-of-bounds for tourists) and tackling the situation too late in the day?

Given the series of LTTE attacks over the past month (more than 200 security-men alone have died in the past six months) and now bringing the low intensity war (with bombs at army headquarters and Welisara) to the capital, it's almost certain the attacks will continue even though there is a second round of talks based on the SLMM role. One thing is certain: however tight security is in Colombo, the LTTE has the ability to strike at will and set off a bomb in any part of the city.

Thus rather than be unprepared, the Tourist Board should summon an immediate roundtable conference with all the sectors involved in the industry including the two main associations and discuss strategies and preparations on how to promote tourism in an ever-changing security situation. A fresh campaign must be mapped out at different levels – call it level 1 to 5 or something like that and push the button at each level – depending on the security situation – which will have guidelines on how to attract visitors to the country and promote tourism notwithstanding the ongoing low intensity conflict.

It’s better to be prepared than wait for the disaster and then struggle to mend the damage as we so often seem to do. We never learn from our mistakes. Let us not make another mistake and instead prepare the tourism industry and its state guide to face the challenges ahead.