ALL Inclusive Interview- Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Republic of Poland Dhammika Kumari Semasinghe

– Sir Arthur C. Clarke- science fiction writer, visionary and inventor

Q.1 Which offers has Sri Lanka for Polish visitors who are looking for luxury travel?

Ans. To the “new normal” experiential traveller and to the connoisseurs of all that is precious, Sri Lanka offers, within a compact space of only 61,864 sq. Km, amazing activities surrounded by stunning vistas of natural beauty. The country is open to fully vaccinated visitors without any restrictions or entry PCR tests, and others (non and partially vaccinated) are able to enjoy the island within a “Bio Security Travel Bubble” for a period of 7 nights and 8 days.

The emerald island has over thousand miles of sun, sand, sea and surfing spots, year round warm weather, 103 rivers and 10,000 manually made ancient irrigation tanks, plenty of wild life in natural habitats, gastronomy interactions enriched with the world’s best spices, and the finest tea, singularly delicious pineapples, mangoes, passion fruit, avocados, and 29 varieties of bananas, an ancient heritage built on a sophisticated hydraulic civilization, tropical modernist architectural delights, eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, eco resorts and boutique hotels with quality accommodation and dining, time tested and holistic Ayurveda, some of the world’s finest blue sapphires, and other precious stones, and the list goes on… More recently, the country has emerged as one of the attractive surfing destinations in the world, offering a number of water sports and adventures. Evening beach camping and hot ballooning and kite flying in picturesque small islands, are sought after new attractions.

What Sri Lanka has is legendary and wholesome, and is a veritable elixir for the mind, body and soul. Famous Polish Poet Adam Asnyk was so awed by then Ceylon that he wrote, “Really here was the earthly paradise from which we were banished”. Other eminent visitors from Poland such as Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy), Bronisław Malinowski Julian Fałat and Karol Lanckoroński have recorded similar inspiring experiences following their visits to then Ceylon. This “earthly paradise” can now be easily accessed within a nine hour direct plane ride from Warsaw to Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on LOT Polish Airlines thrice weekly.

Q 2. Can You tell something about the security in Sri Lanka? How is actual COVID-19 situation in the country?

Ans. By all accounts, Sri Lanka is a safe and secure country for foreign visitors. Tourists are treated with warmth and much congeniality by our people. The Sri Lankan Government has taken successful measures to strengthen security for all Sri Lankans and visitors following the Easter Sunday terror attacks in April 2019. Since then, we have not experienced any such incidents.

Positive travel advisories would attest to the prevailing secure environment in the country. The fact that the country attracted 82,327 tourists in January 2022 alone, from Russia, India, UK, Ukraine, Germany, France, Poland, Australia, being among the top ten source countries, is testimony to the normalcy in the island. LOT Polish flies direct to Colombo thrice weekly, which in itself underlines that Sri Lanka is a secure country to enjoy a sun-drenched vacation. This is combined with the improving Coivd-19 situation in the country.

Sri Lanka can boast of excellent public health records, and our COVID-19 vaccination drive was fast paced, well administered, and continued without a vaccine resistant or hesitant public. Therefore, we have around 85.5% of our population fully vaccinated. We are now continuing with the booster drive. As the pandemic unfolded in mid – 2020, Sri Lanka was able to adopt a forward looking and responsible approach, which enabled all our hoteliers, staff guides, travel agents and chauffeurs to be trained, certified and vaccinated. At present about 39 infections per 1000 people are being reported. Since the pandemic began in 2020, Sri Lanka has had 634, 333 infections and 15, 949 Corona virus related deaths.

Q 3. How is the Embassy promoting Sri Lanka in Poland?

We will continue our public diplomacy programmes in the year ahead to familiarize the Polish public about Sri Lanka – it’s culture and society, including our challenges, and achievements especially, in social and human development. These programmes will be shared through the regular Polish media and social media, exhibitions, educational programmes for school children, academic seminars, etc.

Our activities, whether to promote trade and investment or cultural cooperation, will have a strong tourism promotional dimension. The Embassy will also organize tea tasting events, culinary shows, pineapple and passion fruit festivals this year.

Recently, we were able to donate three brightly coloured hand crafted traditional face masks (“Ves Muhunu”) to the 30^th Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. They were auctioned on Allegro, and are now with a generous benefactor from Poznań. It was both an opportunity to engage in charity and also share with the Polish public a unique Sri Lankan heritage craft. The Sri Lanka Embassy will follow- up with an exhibition of traditional Sri Lankan masks later in the year in Warsaw and Krakow.

We also plan to share with the Polish public, the enriching social and cultural contributions made by Polish visitors to Sri Lanka since the early 1890s, even though our countries are 7,394 km apart. Among these personalities are Archbishop Wladyslaw Michal Bonifacy Zaleski, who established the Ampitiya Papal Seminary in picturesque Kandy and lived in the historic city from 1892 until around 1915 as the Vatican’s Apostolic Delegate. Archbishop Zaleski was also an ardent botanist and a significant collection of his botanical drawings are presently in the Department of Plant Systematics and Geography at the University of Warsaw.

Following his death in 1925, a street in Colombo was named after him called the Zaleski Place. The iconic Nippon Hotel in Colombo, was set up in the 1930’s by Mr. Greg Roskowski senior, who first named it “Hotel Polski” then re-named it “ Hotel Nippon” after marrying a Japanese lady. The hotel is featured in the Academy Award winning film, “The Bridge on the River Kwai” shot in then Ceylon. Mr. Greg Roskowski junior was one of Sri Lanka’s most famous radio presenters and announcers, who presented the “Binaca Hit Parade” music programme in the 1950s for Radio Ceylon. The Saint Maximilian Kolbe Church in Ja-Ela, was established following St. Kolbe’s visit to Sri Lanka in 1930.

Q 4. How important is the Polish market for Sri Lanka? Which marketing plans do you have for the nearer future concerning Poland?

Sri Lanka is fast becoming a sought after destination in Poland due to the non-restrictive, but safe travel regime instituted in the island in the COVID-19 pandemic context. Given the zest of the Polish traveller for new and exciting travel hotspots, Poland is an important emerging source market for Sri Lanka.

The data of Polish arrivals in the country is promising. In recent years the numbers have been increasing with 20,896 arrivals in 2019 compared to 14, 572 in 2017 and, within the first 3 months of 2020 alone, there were 11,908 Polish visitors. The arrivals are gradually on an upward trend once again following the opening of Sri Lanka’s borders in 2021 and the resumption of LOT Polish direct flights since 7 December 2021. Poland continues to remain among the top ten tourism generating markets, ranking 7 with 3,185 arrivals in January 2022 alone. This is precisely why LOT Polish flies thrice weekly to Colombo.

It is important to provide confidence and in depth knowledge about the destination to the luxury traveller. Therefore, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and the Embassy will work closely with the key players in the Polish travel industry to formulate tailor made programmes for prospective Polish visitors in this category.

There will be upcoming FAM tours, B2C meetings, and robust social media campaigns as promotional efforts. We are proactively seeking social influencers and travel bloggers for country promotional purposes.

As we speak, The National Geographic Traveler Poland (TVN television) will be in Sri Lanka in March to film three comprehensive episodes covering heritage/natural tourism attractions, cultural and gastronomy tourism. Sri Lanka will actively participate in the TT Warsaw later this year. This event has been sponsored under our ‘Visiting Journalists Programme.’ Therefore, we will combine marketing, advertising and journalism in the destination promotional repertoire.

Sri Lanka is proactively promoting MICE tourism. Our country is already a famous wedding destination and a legendary film location. Film producers and directors such as contemporary Deepa Mehta, Steven Spielberg, and of yester years’ David Lean and Don Boyd have raved about Sri Lanka’s enchanting beauty, light and geographic diversity as one perfect outdoor film set. That is “SO Sri Lanka!”