Lawlessness hurts tourism in Sri Lanka
By Paul Emmanuel - TNS
COLOMBO - A private sports resort, Aquarius Sports Resort in Marawila, 100 Km north of the Capital Colombo, owned by a foreigner was set on fire by an unknown gang early Tuesday, the management told the TNS.
Aquarius Sports Resort chairman Dr. Dietmar Doering said that around 15 -20 men stormed the premises on Tuesday at the time German and American guests were inside, damaged property and set the place on fire. He claimed that it was the second such attack within the past one week forcing him to shut down operations.
“On Poya day, just one week ago four rooms of our hotel, which has been leased to a local party, were smashed by the same or a related gang. A driver
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| Aquarius Sports Resort |
of a Government Minister from the area had refused to pay a bill and a subsequent fight resulted in the destruction of four of our hotel rooms and two shops in Marawila. Vehicles too were smashed. The total damage was around 15 million rupees. A settlement subsequently resolved the dispute while none of the parties claimed damages from the other party,” Mr Doering said.
He said he had now decided to wind up his operations in the country as his life and that of his guests were under threat owing to frequent attacks on his resort.
“Law and order is no longer in the hands or in the control of the authorities here. We are in the process of issuing warning notices to European travel trade organisations based on the incidents which happened here last night,” he further said.
Aquarius Sports Resort is worldwide the only sport resort for blind and disabled people. It is equipped with a standard- routing-system.
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| Aquarius Sports Resort |
The hotel is situated on an 11.000m² property directly located at the beach side. It has 24 single-storied bungalows for 2-3 people as well as administrative facilities such as a restaurant, office premises, a souvenir shop, a discotheque and an indoor stadium. The outside facilities include a pool area, a beach volleyball field and an outdoor soccer field. The facilities were built in 1997 and renovated in 2001.
The continuing lawlessness in the country started affecting the tourism as well, warns a western diplomat in the Capital Colombo. The Asian Human Rights commission recently said, “Over the period of a decade the AHRC has constantly made representation to the Sri Lankan authorities, the government, the Inspector General of Police, the Attorney General’s Department, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the National Police Commission about the completely dysfunctional nature of the policing system in the country. However, the problem is on-going and becomes worse all the time.”
source:
http://www.tamileelamnews.com/news/publish/tns_9068.shtml
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