SLTB Develops Arugam Bay?

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) Tuesday said that steps to develop Arugambay have already commenced. SLTB Director General S. Kalaiselvam said that a land of 600 acres was identified to build a resort. “This land is about six kilometers away from the Arugambay town. We have selected this land to build a resort like the ones we have in Bentota and several other tourist areas in the country,” Kalaiselvam said.
Kalaiselvam added that the location selected for this purpose was situated six kilometers away from Arugambay.
According to Kalaiselvam the land is being surveyed at the moment. “We are planning on the improvements on the infrastructure in the area. We are still conducting surveys in the area,” he said.
Kalaiselvam also said that the SLTB would be conducting various awareness programmes to the fishermen in the area for proper coordination.
“We have planned to conduct these awareness programmes specially for the fishermen so that there would be some sort of coordination between them and the tourist destination,” he said.
However, the Arugambay Tourism Association (ATA) complained that tourists were not coming to Arugambay citing security issues.
ATA President Abdul Rahim said that Arugamby experienced the worst tourist attendance last year since the ceasefire agreement (CFA).
He added that the government and the SLTB were vested with the responsibility to develop Arugambay so that it could also attract more tourists.
The surfing competition, which was scheduled to be held last year, was shifted to Maldives due to the security situation in the country.
Kalaiselvam however said that there were no security threats in the area even though Arugambay was closer to the conflict zone than the other tourist destinations.
He added that security threats applied to the whole country and not to Arugambay alone.
“There have been no incidents in Arugambay so far though it is near the conflict zone. Therefore, there is no need for the tourists to worry about security and it is not confined to Arugambay alone. It cuts across the whole country,” he said.

source: http://www.southasianmedia.net/cnn.cfm?id=386373&category=Development&Country=SRI%20LANKA