Possible contribution to national reconciliation through tourism

Following is the address delivered by The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Anura Lokuhetty at the National Conference on ‘The Role of the Business Community in Reconciliation’ organised by Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS):

 

Ladies and gentlemen, throughout the history of mankind, humankind has searched for peace and harmony through political, geographical, economical, and sociological avenues and, unfortunately, even through the act of war itself.

Recently tourism has been discussed as a strategy contributing to peace. Tourism does not directly contribute to peace; however it has the potential to have an impact on peace in more than one way. The struggle we face today is in distinguishing between the myths and the realities of tourism’s contribution to peace and in identifying strategies that promote tourism as an agent of peace.

Known to the world as the ‘Isle of the Orient,’ ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’ and a ‘Paradise on Earth,’ Sri Lanka, though small, is by no means little in what it can offer.

Sri Lanka has stood the test of much travail, disappointments and a 30-year internal conflict that could have been disastrous to any nation with a population of 20 million and land area of 25,332 sq miles with its multi-communal, multilingual and multi-religious cultural traits.

Today Sri Lanka is enjoying the fruits of peace after long years of civil conflict, which brought suffering and misery to its people. The defeat of terrorism has brought about a national and economic revival amongst all its communities, leaving the responsibility of reconstruction, rebuilding, reassuring and re-establishing harmony in political, economical and social sectors among the people in the north and the east in particular, doing away with the distrust among all communities to build bridges of trust, understanding, and brotherliness.

Travel and tourism

Tourism is when people choose to travel from one location to another for holiday or on sightseeing. Internal tourism is to visit family, friends, for the purpose of play, study, work, business, pilgrimage and/or service.

Tourist destinations, such as beaches, parks, recreation centres, museums, resorts and hiking trails can be located within walking distance from one’s home or across the ocean. Whether one travels many miles or a short distance or whether one travels alone or with family members, with friends, colleagues or even strangers, travel generally entails encounters and interactions with peoples of different ages, ethnic backgrounds, cultural heritages, spiritual traditions, different ability and educational levels and interests.

Travellers encounter new experiences; gain knowledge of other cultures, regions and countries; discover the importance of caring for the environment; develop new friendships; and in the process, promote peaceful relations among people. Travellers also contribute to the economic growth and development of a community and a region when they spend to obtain a variety of needs. Economic development, especially when the development aids in poverty reduction in the local community, helps to promote a culture of peace.

Culture of peace

Tourism helps in creating a culture of peace in a number of other ways. People engaged in tourism and hospitality seek to provide a welcoming experience for travellers, very similar to the peace-making activities experienced within a family; such as offering information, food, shelter, comfort and relaxation.

People within the tourism industry may also work together within and across regions to establish policies that lead to the abolition of armed conflicts, violence and warfare; promote ecological sustainability; and assure the welfare of all members of the local and global communities.

Spiritual awareness and tolerance, coupled together with the widening scope of freedom for all and oppression for none, have ensured the radiant smile for which Sri Lanka is famous world over. The tears, weeping and despair during years of intolerance and distrust will hopefully be made a thing of the past through tourism development initiatives, helping to build bridges of trust among different communities in the country.

Rejuvenated Sri Lanka

The moment of resurgence, reconciliation, reconstruction and restoration of a rejuvenated Sri Lanka has come. This change has brought hope to the hopeless, challenges for survivors and initiatives for an industrious nation, hoping to overtake the race for development, not merely on a material basis but also on national reconciliation and a spiritual note.

Sri Lanka is a country that has enjoyed communal harmony, religious tolerance and diverse cultural and traditional practices for the most part throughout our history. It’s not a difficult task to get back to that era with the political commitment displayed now. In youth ideologies, tolerance and gender equity, Sri Lanka is ahead of certain other countries that have violated practices of equality and another’s rights.

Prof. John Paul Lederach, who is considered the father of conflict transformation, terms ‘reconciliation’ thus: “A meeting ground where trust and mercy have met, and where justice and peace have kissed.”

In simpler terms, it’s about bringing people together to move them beyond the past through re-establishing trust and normalcy, forgiving each other, in a just society where all would be able to coexist peacefully. In Sri Lanka, a successful reconciliation process would pave the way for all its people not only to coexist peacefully but also to work for the betterment of their next generation. It should rekindle mutual respect among all ethnicities.

A better tomorrow

What then can Sri Lanka hope for? Obviously a better tomorrow for our next generation, and generations to come.

Visiting other regions of the country will help people to learn more about the other people’s cultural and social values and this would promote social cohesion. The strengths of tourism or attributes that help in bringing people together in non-adversarial circumstances include the extent to which tourism has been adopted by individuals as a leisure activity and the development of visitor destinations throughout the country.

However, it must also be noted that the scope and depth of tourism can be considered strengths only in so far as they contribute to the goal of a more harmonious environment. There are widely recognised advantages pertaining to national reconciliation through the tourism proposition. Let’s talk of some of these advantages:

• Tourism can contribute to economic development and poverty reduction.
• Sri Lanka is blessed with valuable tourism resources and tourism activity has a strong propensity to expand spatially, into remote areas as well.
• The tourism supply chain has a high capacity to support and complement other economic activities, such as traditional agriculture, fisheries, transport and handicraft, etc.
• Tourism is a high labour-intensive sector, creating many opportunities for youth and women.
• Tourism is a sector where entry barriers for small and medium enterprises can be low, facilitating involvement in lower income earners.
• Tourism can also bring non-material benefits by encouraging community pride in the local culture and appreciation of the natural environment.

The opportunities mentioned above include developments that can contribute to tourism experiences to improve relationships among all communities resulting in national reconciliation. Tourism will definitely reduce the friction of distance.

National reconciliation

Tourism can also contribute to national reconciliation in so many other ways as well. We can make sure it happens by:

• Honouring spiritual traditions, reclaiming sacred spaces, and working with others for the development, protection, preservation and support for sacred sites and pilgrimage trails.
• Acknowledging and protecting diverse cultural spaces and traditions, assuring diversity in all areas of the tourism industry, encouraging travel for people with disabilities, and work with others for the development, protection, preservation and support for cultural heritage sites.
• Reducing poverty by hiring people from local communities, paying just wages and supporting the development of local and micro-business that contribute to and benefit from the tourism industry.
• Eliminating conditions that lead to acts of armed conflict, violence, terrorism and warfare, providing training in conflict resolution and non-violence, and working with government and community groups to restore areas damaged by warfare.
• Promoting sustainable development by planning development projects with care with the ecosystem in mind, protecting endangered plant and animal species, and supporting just environmental principles and practices.
• Educating people about delicate ecosystems by promoting ecotourism.
• Promoting and preserving a culture of peace by involving local people in decision making process regarding development and tourism, assuring safe passage for all travellers across borders, boundaries and barriers, supporting businesses whose leaders engage in socially, economically, politically and environmentally responsible business practices.

Tourism performance

Now let’s look at tourism performance in the last year in Sri Lanka. It was encouraging to note that last year was a significant year for tourism in Sri Lanka. A record number of 855,975 tourists visited the country, surpassing the previous year’s arrivals by 30.8%. As for the projection for this year, we are hoping to reach the one million mark and more than US$ 1 billion in foreign exchange revenue.

One of the world’s leading and most trusted travel magazines in the UK ‘Conde Nast Traveller’ has nominated Sri Lanka as one of the top five destinations to watch in 2012. This achievement is certainly a boost for Sri Lanka Tourism, which is targeting 2.5 million tourists by 2016.

On the way to reaching 2.5 million tourists by 2016, there will be employment opportunities created for at least 500,000. This will create a huge employment opportunity in this industry, enabling the country to reach its full employment status.

The additional 350,000 jobs that will be created by the industry will give employment opportunities right across the country including the north and the east where some of the best beaches in the country are located.

Improvement of the people’s financial status will boost domestic tourism, resulting in more movement of people visiting from the north to the south, south to the north or east and to the west and vice versa. This will help to build up a unified population of Sri Lankans in the new post-war environment. In this environment, people will learn to respect different religions and cultures, contributing to our dream of a unified population in unified Sri Lanka.

We have much to learn from what we have gone through and what we intend to achieve. In this endeavour, it is desirable to use tourism as a vector for national reconciliation. We may have all come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now.

Thank you.

References:

nScholarly article on ‘Introduction to Peace and Tourism: Friends not Foes’. Foreword by Klass – Wybo van der Hoek and Sandy Dhuyvetter.

n‘Tourism & Culture of Peace’ by J. Hasley.