The newspapers have been full of stories in recent weeks, especially after the war ended last year that Sri Lanka is headed for a tourism boom. Millions of dollars are being poured into the industry by hard headed businessmen who do not flush their money down drains. They invest in areas where they see real potential and the perception is clearly evident that the industry, which can create not tens but hundreds of thousands of desperately needed jobs, is ready to take off provided conditions prove propitious. The end of the war last May and the global perception that Sri Lanka is once more a peaceful holiday destination bodes well for the short and medium term certainly and, hopefully, in the longer term as well.

We reported last week that hotel owners are racing each other to refurbish long neglected properties allowed to run down during the depression. Not only that, many new hotels are planned and the ongoing winter season has seen over-bookings, something that was only a distant memory not so long ago. Rates too have looked up and undercutting to grab a bigger slice of a smaller cake is no longer common practice. The Hotel Ceylon Continental, the country’s first five-star hotel whose management was franchised to the globally known Intercontinental chain, saw the Hayleys conglomerate recently paying a hefty price to take control. Hayleys was a relatively latecomer into the leisure industry, way behind John Keells and Aitken Spence although they did invest in this segment in later years. It has exited from the Lighthouse Hotel in Galle and may also sell off stakes in other properties where it had interests if the number crunching suggests inadequate return on assets. The investment in a Colombo five star did not come cheap and the pros and cons of liquidating debts incurred for the purchase will no doubt be carefully examined.

All this is to the good. While the private sector, which the government wants to drive the economy, seems to be ready, willing and able to play its part certainly as far as the leisure industry is concerned, no doubt mostly in the interest of its own coffers, what about the government’s own role? Manifestly, its regulatory responsibilities are manifold and far reaching. It must also be practical in its thinking and remember that as a small country with a population of a little over 20 million, we must not allow a situation of too many tourists flooding this small island. The Tourist Board expects the 15,000 hotel rooms we now have to grow to 22,000 over the next two years. Has there been any thinking about the level at which we are going to cap the number of visitors we want here?

These are all matters that deserve attention. Sri Lanka will not want the best of the bounty that nature has bestowed on this land where an ancient traveler once famously remarked that the ``fountains paradise`` can be heard to be reserved for tourists only. Time was when tourism drove crabs and prawns off middle class tables because they became too expensive for us. So also fruits like say mangos teens or the best rambutans. Sri Lankans too must enjoy the good things of this land and while it is necessary that the economic potential of an ever-growing industry is exploited and jobs created for our unemployed, we must as in all things ensure moderation including growing our tourism industry.

The poya day ban on serving liquor in tourist hotels is one such question that, though politically sensitive, must be looked at with level heads. While good Buddhists will abstain from alcohol or flesh eating, those are matters of morality and private choice. It does not make sense to force them down the throats of people holding different views. Hotel and other bars are closed on poya days but people are quite free to stock up earlier and drink as much as they want in their own homes or in their rooms in the case of hotel guests. Having such rules are counter-productive to growing the tourism industry to the levels which we aspire. The recent ho-ha about the Akon affaire is another case in point. Most reasonable people will agree that the rap star, whom the majority of Lankans have not even heard of, was not deliberately seeking to denigrate Buddhism. But we, in our wisdom, have decided to deny him a visa to enter the country, allowed some goons to throw stones at the offices of MTV/Sirasa quite forgetting the role that the Tourist Board and SriLankan Airlines played in promoting the event!

It is freely conceded that Minister Milinda Moragoda played a very useful role in getting the tourism industry kick-started after its long recession. He hired experienced and capable professionals like former Ambassador Bernard Goonatillake to head the Sri Lanka Tourist Promotion Board and enlisted the support of capable people from within the industry itself to revive the industry. A great deal of money was spent in developing the concept of Sri Lanka being a ``Small Miracle.`` But somebody somewhere, obviously very high, seems to have thought that we were not a small miracle but a big miracle. The fact that the war was won despite the conviction of many that it was unwinnable was indeed a big miracle for which President Rajapaksa, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, General Sarath Fonseka and the other service commanders as well as the men who fought the war and the broader public who supported the winning effort deserve maximum credit. But did it make sense to rubbish a catchy slogan intended to attract more tourists to Sri Lanka on which a lot of money had been invested? And why did a minister who was doing a good job in tourism moved to justice and law reforms?

If we want to make a go of our tourism industry, and we certainly do, we must not let potty issues drag down the effort. God knows that we do not have enough good people to do the work that needs to be done. Let us maximize the limited resources we can command and put our best foot forward to move this country forward, find work for people without jobs and maximize our undoubted potential. We don’t want to make Colombo into a Macao or a Bangkok but we do have casinos and the foreign girls seen in their vicinity. Tourists want certain goods, services and facilities including shops where they can pick up bargains which we do not lack. Let us not go overboard on any of these matters. Moderation is the key word and must be the name of the game.