Understanding how tourism enriches the heart

Tony (right) with Rika, Sophie, the bride and groom - Sinhala guests turned family members

The Japan corner

The temptation of a garden swing

By Surya Vishwa

Why does a human travel? What is the ultimate purpose?

This is a question that every entrepreneur in the tourism industry must ask themselves.

Does an individual travel to merely bask in a concrete lap of luxury? Since we are asking these questions in a Sri Lankan backdrop let us look at the answers from the lens of this country. Do foreigners who travel here, come looking for luxury, which most of them have in their own home, given that most of the visitors to Sri Lanka are from the opulent Western world? The competition in the realm of global hospitality industry is vast. If manmade luxury – high rise buildings with personal pool in every room – that kind of thing – is the yardstick, then there are plenty of such in many parts of the world. If you examine carefully, one will see that this kind of tourism is often crafted to fill the void in the bounty of nature, in countries that have to give a tough fight to produce every drop of water and every root of plant.

Yet, in countries – such as Sri Lanka – where lack of water and trees are merely the vicious action of ignorance of depletion, there is still the conduit of abundance that does not seem to get extinct. What we call culture is an offspring of nature. How people of different locations act varyingly, which includes their penchant for divergent values, depends on their surrounding. If it is concrete luxury alone that surrounds them then it is likely that the values dominant will tend to revolve around the monetary alone, above all other qualitative riches.

What does a traveller really seek?

So, what does a traveller really seek? To answer this question we arrived to a simply furnished up-stair home, located in front of the park in Jaffna, known popularly as Tony’s Garden House – Backpackers Inn. There is a swing in the garden and a very large painting of birds and leaves on the outer wall of this abode and one could be tempted to sit on the swing before entering.

This place has for the past eight years received guests from more than 50 countries, including repeat visitors; a few Europeans have visited upto nine times, Sri Lanka, just to come to this unique and affordable premises. 

“When I started out in 2018, I did not envisage this outcome. Having worked in the marketing field, and affiliated as a sales representative of a company in Colombo, I wanted to provide a place where those from different parts of Sri Lanka can stay comfortably,” explains Tony. He points out that he is not from a rich family, has seen the worst of the wartime era of Sri Lanka and that his mother and siblings live also in Jaffna, occasionally visiting this place.

The name initially chosen by him for his tourism endeavour was ‘Sky Park View.’ This is because the building faced the park and because the balcony gave one a stellar view of the sky.

“On the day of the opening, way back in 2018, as providence would have it, hours after the name board was put up, a Frenchman who happened to be strolling by was drawn by curiosity to venture inside. This visit changed the course of my foray into the world of tourism,” Tony recounts.

Two tourists set off from Tony's Garden Home to explore Jaffna

“I did not know anything about promoting a place for the European market or about how international hostels functioned. This visitor who was staying elsewhere at the time he happened to walk past this place, checked out of that hotel and stayed here for almost two weeks. During this time he helped me to create the blueprint of a place conducive for global visitors,” explains Tony.

He gets many visitors on personal recommendations and also from booking.com and hostel world.

The first greeting one often gets at Tony’s home away from home is from Sophie; the golden hearted Golden Retriever who will with one instant glance charm you. Soon after entering this haven, one sees a cute arrangement – described as Japan Fair. This Japanese link is through Rika, Tony’s partner who has her own tourism outfit in Japan. She had met him as a backpacker when she visited Jaffna in 2023 and booked Tony’s Garden House. Since then she has become part of the establishment and Tony, Rika and Sophie makes a charismatic trio who loves to revel in nature.

“Often we close the place and travel to different places in Sri Lanka. I used to do this ever since the war ended. Having worked in the Middle East many years ago, I know how to appreciate the natural bounty of nature in this tropical country which is my home,” explains Tony.

So, does he welcome only foreigners?

“Of course not. Take a look at the walls,” he answers. Much of the wall space bring to life the serenity and joy, Jaffna and Tony’s Garden Inn has brought to the lives of visitors.

“Thank you, brother,” says one message written in Sinhala.

Travel expands the mind

“One of the Sinhalese guests, Sajith Lakruwan who visited here in 2022 with his fiancé is now like our closest family member. We were treated equal to his closest family members when we were invited to his wedding last year which myself, Rika and Sophie attended,” says Tony. The photographs we publish below as provided by him will speak best.

This shows us what travel does. Travel expands the mind and creates the impossibility for petty boundaries to reign. It also teaches us emotional intelligence.

“For example,” explains Tony, “I ensure that when I telephone a hotel or guest house in another area, say, in Anuradhapura or Kandy or Galle, that I first ask the person who answers the phone as to what language he or she is most comfortable speaking. I will explain that I cannot speak fluent Sinhala but that I can communicate in that language in a rather basic manner and I am more proficient in English. Thereafter I will opt for the preferred language of the person I am conversing. However, I often get calls from those who immediately start fielding scores of questions to me in Sinhala, without pausing for a moment to think that they are embarking on a discussion with a Sri Lankan who is from a Tamil speaking district.”

His favourite area in Sri Lanka? “Nuwara Eliya,” he smiles stating that although he enjoys the seas across Sri Lanka, including the pristine beaches of the North, that the mountains of this island has him in perpetual enchantment.

“Next week we are visiting Rattota in Matale. As Rika is abroad, me and my friends are traveling on bike and I will not be taking any bookings on these days. We travel out regularly, thus giving the staff who keeps the place in order some time to rest as well,” he says.

There are about three staff members who keep Tony’s Garden Home spotless and attend to the laundry while there are a couple of families that benefit economically from Tony’s tourism.

“I order home cooked food from few families close-by. This is mainly for breakfast. Coffee and Tea is generally provided but the guests usually do their own shopping soon after they arrive,” he explains.

Relaxed efficiency

A recent addition to Jaffna includes a Keells supermarket and a second Barista branch located in Nallur serving vegetarian food. There are countless other cafes and groceries that one can visit, each with its own uniqueness. Jaffna seems to be fast becoming a city of cafes and eateries that boast of not just traditional but also international cuisine. On either side of the park, opposite this inn, are two cafes that this writer has visited which offers a range of fruit juices starting at Rs. 150. There are some snacks too including the local Murukku. The whole pace of Jaffna is of relaxed efficiency. The people are hardworking. This is how they have collectively transformed this district was a war ravaged calamity to a harbinger of limitless prosperity that we are witnessing. When the full potential of Jaffna is reached which is fast in the making it will ensure that no trouble maker, be it in Sri Lanka or elsewhere can ever again make scapegoats of Northern Sri Lankans.

Today, Jaffna resonates the joy of being alive and this is one district that has not caught the pandemic of barring Sri Lankans from tourism establishments as is the norm in many other places in Sri Lanka.

“This has happened to me as well. Whenever I telephone hotels or guest houses, I am immediately asked if I am Sri Lankan and told that these places do not admit Sri Lankans. I really feel bad in my heart each time this is said,” Tony explains. Last month this page featured racism in tourism in the South of Sri Lanka.

Coming back to our very first pondering that we started this writing with as to what a visitor seeks when they spend hard earned money getting to a new place, the explanations could lie in the following feedback given by one of Tony’s guests as is visible upon the walls.

“Meeting people and sharing experiences are often what we remember most from a trip. And that is what we’ll remember most about Jaffna. A wonderful welcome, a lot of kindness and sharing through rich discussions and food. Thank you Tony and Rika,” says Ben and Zoe from Lyon in France.

If I were to write out similar such messages around the world up on these walls it will take up possibly several editions of the entire Daily FT newspaper!

“So what do you, who is from Colombo like most about Jaffna, asks Pierre, a 25-year-old from French and Portugal parentage.

I reply that I have been travelling here ever since the peace process of 2002, as a journalist and that I like the terrain and the people.

Pierre had arrived in Jaffna three days previously and has rented a bike from Tony (who provides both motorbikes and cycles) and gone on a day long sightseeing with three of the other Europeans.

What we like most

“What we like most staying in places like Tony’s is that people talk with each other and often we make new friends,” says an Italian couple who has incidentally also just discovered that the fashion scene in Jaffna is interesting and ordered half a wardrobe which Tony agrees to assist in seeing that it gets to their home country!

Speaking of fashion, the little this writer has seen of the saree and shalwar shops in Jaffna (there are many and could offer fashionista bliss) for anyone who likes to dress up. The prices are definitely lower than the rest of the country and there is one place out of Jaffna town, selling sarees at unbelievable prices where apparently anyone who hears of gets to. This writer did, in a fanciful moment, sojourn up there and as narrated to a chuckling Tony, although I grasped 10 sarees of embossed silk like sheen, selling at Rs. 500 was told that it was on offer, so only one saree per person.

“You from Colombo? Our sarees good choice, noh?,” asks a friendly shop assistant at this magical place. I nod and leave as fast as possible. This is recommended for those with fragile bank accounts, especially for writers tripping across the country on a shoe string budget (and enjoying every step of the way).

“So, we will be closed from 6th to 10th,” reminds Tony who is preparing with Sophie for the Matale vacation.

“Matale is a lovely place and we are looking forward, he explains.

What are his plans next in the arena of tourism? Does he aim to buy property and maybe create a tourism chain of his own? I can imagine how it will thrive if he does this.

“I do not make big plans. The most important thing for me is to be happy and be relaxed. To crowd my mind with tension about the future by filling it with many layers of plans is not my style. Right now we are doing our best and all those who enter this house leaves happy and with a good impression of my homeland, Jaffna. This is enough,” shares Tony.

In staying here for several days and observing how a visitor instantly adopts Tony’s Garden House as a home is a magical experiential processing for me. I have seen how this transition is desperately sought after by several star class hotels but resulting in much stress and worry.

Here it is home. There are mats that have a small patch and a worn T shirt acts as a pseudo glove to remove a scorching pan from the fire. Those who wish to beautify the place in their own way does it. Some leave books. Others stuff such as additional kitchen utensils that they fancy to use for the short term and want others use it for the long-term. Returning from my saree binge, I stop at a traditional clay pot manufacturing and selling point in a village and buy a clay pot with a lid. I keep it in the kitchen promising myself to make some nice Jaffna style vegetable curry. I will possibly do it tomorrow.

“Do you find the food here too spicy?” I ask a young foreign visitor who has been to several other places in Sri Lanka and tasted an assortment of diverse local food.

“Not, really. I find the same vegetables I tasted in South, made very differently here,” she explains.

Culinary heritage of Jaffna

Another under-explored area in the context of Sri Lankan tourism is the culinary heritage of Jaffna which cannot be compared to any other area in Sri Lanka – or to India. Although Jaffna may seem to have similarities with India if one wishes to see it, Jaffna tourism can hold its own as boldly unique as is its people.

Jaffna is easily commutable by bus and also train. The daily 7:30 p.m. night bus to Hatton will bring you closer to the Sri Pada area. The potential for promoting Jaffna by simultaneously linking it with areas such as these is immense. It is also interesting that the connection between the salubrious tea growing areas in Sri Lanka and Jaffna are many. Almost all of the small and medium tourism operators in areas such as Norton, Sri Pada region and Hatton that we spoke to, which we will feature next week, has at some point in their life been associated with Jaffna, either for academia or work. The potential therefore for encouraging more integrated travel between the North and Central Hilly areas will directly influence the economy, points out Tony. 

This view is echoed by Vithushan who runs Delft Village Stays that we wrote about last week. In our next two editions we will explore how the North can link with small and medium scale tourism operators in the Central Province towards the common mission of transforming Sri Lanka’s economy directly from the grassroots.