1st phase, the trip to Kandy

The starting phase of the grand initiative “Ayubowan Sri Lanka”, organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura was successfully concluded at Kandy on the 12th of August 2019. The ultimate objective of this journey was to witness the current situation of tourism in Kandy, to promote the little paradise: Sri Lanka among tourists around the world and eventually to know about their opinions towards Sri Lanka as a tourist destination that recently faced a hard time due to terrorist acts.

Our team reached Kandy in the morning and commenced our work at the Kandy Railway Station. Tourists were asked about how they feel about being in Sri Lanka, what they enjoy here, general opinion about their safety, and their suggestions to make Sri Lanka a better place for tourism.

Our next destination was ST. Anne’s Church. Unfortunately, photography and videography were not allowed in the premises. The only obstacle that we had to face was the constant heavy rain. Without being discouraged by the rain, then we stepped towards the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, where we found a diverse range of tourists from around the world. A selected number of tourists opened up their experiences and opinions with us.

Our final destination was Kandy City Center which is the most modern commercial and shopping complex in Kandy. According to the tourists generally, they see Sri Lanka as a very welcoming country with a wonderful nature, some were enjoying spicy food in Sri Lanka.

The most important thing that we could notice was that they did not seem to be affected negatively due to the Easter attack occurred recently. Still, they consider this beautiful paradise as a safe place to travel to. Some were disappointed about the environmental pollution. They were not happy with the trash thrown all over beautiful places.

Here are some of the opinions they shared with us.

Gabriella from Brazil;

“..people are very welcoming. I didn’t visit all the cities yet only Colombo and Kandy…. It is safer than Brazil even with the attacks in Easter, it is safer than Brazil it is very violent there….. For me, everything is perfect here.”

Jean Marc from France;                                        

“It’s raining here a lot in Sri Lanka. It’s a beautiful country. Religion is really important for Sri Lankan people. Hindu, Buddhists, Muslims… I think it’s a country where there are lots of things to see, a lot of different things to see…. Right now, I like tea plantation. Yeah. Right now, it seems to be a very beautiful place…. Right now, no problem for us… Sri Lanka generally speaking, level of service like in other countries should be developed in hotels. Some hotels are still a bit different for us. So I think that there is something to do with the hotels. To make the hotels more occidental.”

With such comments we were able to wrap up the visit to Kandy under the first phase of this grand initiative, Ayubowan Sri Lanka.

-Rtr. Kaumadee Perera-