By Harischandra Gunaratna
Michelle Mitchelle and Natalie Loos Moutou, two sisters of Sri Lankan origin living in Sydney,Australia were on holiday in Arugam Bay and they were mesmerised with its bounden beauty, the sandy beaches and calm waters.
But they had a word of caution "Arugam Bay should retain its tranquility and rustic charm and the authorities should not allow unnecessary development such as high rise buildings and overcrowd the area. Such action would ruin the pristine beauty for which Arugam Bay is known internationally."
Michelle and Natalie are the daughters of Claudette and Patrick Loos, a Sri Lanka couple who migrated Down Under in the 70s and made Sydney their home.Patrick is now a tour operator and specialises in organizing tours to Sri Lanka from Sydney.
Michelle and Natalie were overwhelmed with the natural charm of Arugam Bay and the simplicity and friendliness of the people.
Natalie said "Sometimes it is hard to find a holiday resort with such rustic charm and you may have to travel very far to reach such a place, but here it is only a couple hours drive from the eastern town Batticlao, though a long drive form Colombo,"
It is a paradise and with the county regaining peace many tourists, both local and foreign who were deprived of visiting here would start coming in droves and there will be a need to increase the room capacity , but it has to be done in a planned and a sustained manner without harming its unique character, Michelle said.
Patrick Loos was here with a tour group of 60 pax which included his family and a large number of Sri Lanka’s domiciled in Australia.
Everyone one of them were happy to be in Sri Lanka after Sri Lanka regained peace after the 30 year war, she said.
"I found that to be so relaxing, staying in a bungalow on the beach and having the ocean right at our doorstep was a joy, to be able to stroll along the beach or to sit with family and friends and enjoy the panaromic view was something exclusive and we look forward to this memorable experience on our next visit as well," she pointed out.
Arugam Bay was a blast we all truly enjoyed surfing and the great atmosphere, the cosy bar on the beach where we partied till wee hours was truly amazing, Michelle said adding that never having surfed before, it was a great experience learning it in Arugam Bay which area is thronged by surfers from different countries and I will never forget the feeling of being so relaxed and it was a treat and we enjoyed a well earned holiday.
When contacted Duleep Mudadeniya, Head of Standards and Quality Assurance of Sri Lanka Tourism assured that there will be no constructions allowed which will ruin the character and charm of Arugam Bay and all new rooms will have to be built according to the guidelines laid down by the Urban Development Authority (UDA).He said that high rises will not be allowed.
Mudadeniya said that at the moment there are 850 rooms in Arugam Bay and another 900 will be constructed to meet the demand. Two hotels will be constructed near the beach each consisting 60 and 75 rooms, he added.
Mudadeniya also complemented the national carrier Sri Lannkan Airlines in the manner in which it organised the Pro Surf Championship which drew a large number of foreign competitors and visitors and added that it will be a tremendous boost to the South East Coast resort as a tourist destination.
He said that Sri Lanka Tourism launched an attractive brochure on Arugam Bay during the surfing championship and it would be handy to prospective visitors.
Ms Susi, the Manager of popular hotel "Star Dust" said that during the peak months July-August the Arugam Bay resort was full of tourists both domestic and foreign and the Pro Surf Championship organised by Sri Lankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Tourism was a great success.During the championship the hotels were not able to keep up with the demand.
Susi from Austria said that there aren’t any big hotels in the area and most are guest houses which possess only 10-20 rooms and others are cabanas. Only a couple of hotels have a larger number of rooms.
The room charges were as high as Rs 20,000- Rs 15,000 just a week ago due to the demand created by the surfing championship have now come down to about Rs 8,000-Rs 6,000 (room only) and wooden cabanas thathched with cadjan are in the range of Rs3,800 a double to Rs 6,700 for a family.
Dulari, woman who operated a small guest house on the beach complained that there is little or no development in Arugam Bay after the Tsunami destroyed most of the guest houses and small timers were neglected by the state authorities.
"Some people who wield political influence are favoured by the authorities and as a result others are deprived of their rights," she regretted.
She charged that there is even a man who claims to have a lot of influence with powerful politicians and he had encroached a prime state land close to the Bay and prepared a bogus deed for the plot that he illegally possesses and is preparing to construct a hotel there. It is high time that the relevnt authorities investigate it, she added.
There were many guests who complained about the standard of hygiene at some of the hotels/guest houses. Chinthaka Karunasena, a regular visitor to the area said that cleanliness in some of the hotels were much to be desired and the authorities should inspect them regularly and ensue that high standards are maintained.
"The standards of some of these hotels/guest houses and the services they provide are very low compared with the prices that are charge and a mechanism should be developed to monitor and punish those who violate the regulations or if there is one already it should be properly implemented," he stressed.
Karunasena alleged that majority of hotels in Arugam Bay charge a three percent extra on the bill if you pay with your credit card and it is against the banking regulations.
When contacted some of the hotel managers in Arugam Bay thyey were unable to explain why and said that have been instructed to do so by the owners.
But a number of other resort hotels as well some of the five stars in the metrolpolis that "Traveller" spoke to said they don’t levy this additional charge.http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=34123
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