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Mann was making a special presentation to Industry and Commerce Minister Bathiudeen, who is also MP for the Vanni Electoral District, which includes Mannar District, on IFC’s in-depth, four-month-long landmark survey ‘Tourism Development Strategy for Mannar District’ – a first-of-its-kind in-depth development survey by an international entity on Mannar District.
IFC mobilised a study team in late 2013/early 2014 under IFC’s Tourism Development Program for Mannar District. The team was convened by TRC Tourism, New Zealand, and included consultants from Total Management Solutions Company (Sri Lanka), Urbnarc (Singapore), and Hitesh Mehta Design (Florida, USA).
The survey team, based on discussions with the 16-member strong steering committee, conducted on-the-ground assessments and consulted stakeholders, community leaders and used its own judgment in Mannar to complete a qualitative audit of Mannar District as a tourism destination.
“Mannar, which is now the gateway to the strategic Gulf of Mannar, played a crucial role in ancient times. It was the last port of call in the ancient ‘Red Sea/East Africa-Southeast Asia’ naval silk route. It was the sole feeder hub of ancient kingdoms here, and emerged as a hub port especially during the Anuradhapura kingdom. Our Tourism Destination Audit on Sri Lanka shows tourism growth trends to be positive. Nearly three quarters come for pleasure, and average spend per day per tourist at $ 105 is growing at 5% annually,” said Mann.
Mann noted that with the average length of tourist stay at 10 days in Sri Lanka, it is clear that tourists are continuously venturing out of Colombo to Jaffna and Anuradhapura – the northern circuit, partly to explore and partly to satisfy post conflict curiosity.
“Mannar is entrenched in the Kalpitiya-Jaffna-Trincomalee northern tourism circuit but more importantly, it’s the tourists’ diversion from this established circuit to a green adventure, that’s Mannar brand! With a new train ferry, highway infrastructure, potential recommencement of Talaimannar-India ferry and expanding markets, as well as linkages to Kalpitiya, Wilpattu National Park, Trincomalee, Jaffna, ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Sigiriya, the ‘Mannar Tourism Brand’ can play a pivotal role in overall Northern tourism,” he added.
According to the study, the two market segments for Mannar brand are domestic and international tourists – domestic overnight tourists at 500,000 per year and international tourist count at 6,000 per year, which is not very significant at present.
However, with the promotion of Mannar brand through its many cultural, water-based and wildlife/marine tourist attractions, it can become an eco-tourism hotspot. Some attractions are the Thiruketheswaram Temple, the Madhu Shrine, and Islamic festivals for religious tourism, Dutch Fort, Doric Bungalow Mannar Portuguese Fort, and other rich colonial attractions, the Giant’s Tank reservoir believed to be Sri Lanka’s oldest man made reservoir, Adam’s Bridge (featured in the Ramayana as Rama Sethu) almost reaching to Pamban Islands in India, the ancient trading heritage of baobab trees, niche tourism activities such as the RAMSAR accredited Mannar Wetlands and bird watching trips in Vankalai Bird Sanctuary as well as October-March large flamingo migrations, famous Mannar sand dunes and mud flats, the well-known Talaimannar Pier and lighthouse (oldest light house in South Asia), presence of dugong marine mammal, turtles and seahorses, scuba diving and snorkelling in Mannar coral reefs, abundant shallow waters for copious recreational fishing as well as the famous Mannar seafood such as reef fish, prawns and dried fish, Mannar’s historically famed pearl harvesting beds, sea kayaking and vibrant Mannar seagrass beds, adventure activities such as drop-off for dolphin watching, kite surfing (specially Adam’s Bridge kite surfing), wind surfing, and even mangroves.
These diversions are not energy consuming and are eco-friendly and nature-based. These are a great draw for high repeat tourists looking for new boutique products, tailor made itineraries, eco adventure and special interest groups as well as tourists looking for a getaway from India. All these tourists are coming from West Europe (Germany, France, UK, etc.), North America, Australia and Japan as well as pre-booked package tourists from India and Southern India.
“When we consider Mannar’s strong renewable energy generation potential such as abundant wind and solar, and with proper promotion, there is no doubt that Mannar can grow to be the leading eco-tour destination of South Asia. Nevertheless, the entire tourism and renewable value chain in the region needs to be developed. As for tourism value chain, we have already identified four points of intervention,” asserted Mann.
“There is strong potential for well-planned and systematic development of Mannar District in a manner through tourism development, which we believe is a key anchor for Mannar brand,” said Nayana M. Mawilmada, Managing Director of the TMS Company, a consultant to the study. “To kick off Mannar tourism, human resource development plays a vital role. There is also the need to mitigate potential tourism fears.”
“I appreciate your hard work,” said Bathiudeen, addressing Mann, and added: “As the next step, we need to take up discussions with line agencies, including Sri Lanka Tourism, and stakeholders and create a way – perhaps a forum similar to the ‘Invest in East’ forum. More importantly, I am keen to involve the private sector in this, perhaps via Private-Public Partnerships.”
