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UK Travel Journalist David Wise, who just completed a coast to coast bike ride from Negombo to Passikudah along with his team, was also present at the announcement to outline his experiences of the country’s off-the-cuff attractions in its rural areas which he explained has the potential to draw in a lot of interest from tourists looking for exactly that.
“The team consisted of myself and a couple of travel writers from UK and Canada, and our objective was to cycle from Negombo to Passikudah and we had an idea before we left what the highlights may be but I think on journeys of this length things come to the fore that you can’t possibly imagine which turn out to be just as good as the known things. We went by bike from Negombo to Ambepussa and Pinnawela and then south through Kithulgala and that journey took about three days in all. After that we continued cycling all the way to Passikudah.”
Wise went on to explain that the main difference that stood out in Sri Lanka as against other destinations was how easygoing, non-commercialised, generous and open the average Sri Lankan was and how his team was treated and received.
“So the highlights that we knew were going to come our way and which are available for tourists no matter what they do such things as the elephants at Pinnawela is a very unique thing. Why I say it is unique is that you can do these things such as bathe in a river in other countries but you will never get the same atmosphere that you have in Sri Lanka. I have done these in Thailand but it does leave a sour taste in your mouth when the atmosphere isn’t as good as in Sri Lanka, where the elephants are treated quite viciously and the people are very openly money minded and not really recognising you as a human being. So this is one of the highlights that come to the fore from our journey; the attitude of the people. They were enthusiastic and generous with their time. One of the things that came out of our tour was that it’s a fantastic destination!”
Speaking at a round table discussion on the proposed plan, SriLankan Airlines Chief Marketing Officer G.T. Jeyaseelan explained: “This all came about when I met David at the WTM last year where we were thinking of different ways to promote Sri Lanka and that was how we came up with this adventure product which will target a different type of traveller to the country. So together with LSR, we will jointly promote the country through the Coast to Coast challenge which we hope to begin early next.”
With the Coast to Coast challenge, LSR, which is well known for adventure-based tourism, will also look to offer tourists something slightly different from the ordinary, such as the country’s lesser known attractions that are off the usual tourist beat and may include home stays for an authentic Sri Lankan experience in some of the country’s rural villages as well.
LSR CEO D.K.R. Dharmapala said: “There is a huge interest in adventure tourism as we get a lot of inquiries from all over the world including Canada, Australia, New Zealand so I think it is the correct time for us to introduce something new and penetrate this new market. Those people are ready to experience not only the luxury side of tourism but also the adventure side of what the country has to offer. In addition, what we are planning to accomplish is to take the tourist deep into the real Sri Lanka and meet the average Sri Lankan and experience what it is like to live among them. This would also bring in benefits for those rural communities in which they also actively participate and benefit both financially and socially from this.”
Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe
