Sunny Side Up

Image Credit: Food Folks And Fun

And it’s tourist season and the screens of our smart phones and tablets and personal computers are flooded with YouTube videos and Instagram Lives and FB Stories created by influencers promoting the beauties of our island to people with USD and Euros to invest. They perform a very important role, because as a country we are recovering from some terrible disruptions over the past few years, culminating in the economic and political crises and petrol and fuel shortages of 2022, which made headlines all around the world. And everyone they are creating content for has a smartphone.

Friends visiting from Australia recently on their way to Europe had not prepared themselves by reading up on our natural history, cultural history or archaeology. They were seeking to escape the harrowing cold of early winter in the Southern Hemisphere. So the beauty and variety of the country greatly impressed them. They formed a very positive impression of the country, in just a few days.

We went to Galle, and they swam at the beaches, and we walked the cobbled streets and bought faluda ice creams from a street seller, and saw magnificent waterfalls in full spate because of the recent rains upcountry, and explored ancient rock temples. They looked up the history of the sites afterwards - and they managed not to fall prey to dengue or any other illness while they were here, so medical assistance was not required. The mass exodus of medical and health care professionals to better prospects overseas, may have caused unwanted problems for them, if they had needed help.

It’s important that those of us living here feel pride in the country. Seeing it through the eyes of visitors like this, helps. Sri Lanka is in an excellent position to attract not only high end tourists but also families in search of outdoor adventures like mountaineering and white water rafting and scuba diving; and it is a very popular destination with backpacking young people on a budget, looking for food and our famous Ceylon tea from roadside stalls, accompanied by spectacular views. I felt that my friends by not informing themselves of the history or background or context of what they were seeing were missing out on a richer cultural experience, one which we who live here also may not appreciate, amidst paying our utilities bills and budgeting for our grocery shopping!

My friends asked about arranged marriages, which is so difficult for Westerners to understand, about the frequency of Poya Day festivals and their significance, and why alcohol is not served on those days, about the eye-opening range of Sri Lankan food, and how ‘spicy’ does not necessarily mean ‘hot’. They were amazed by the range of fresh fruit and vegetables available in the country, and impressed by the local dairy industry, which produces some delicious products despite lacking the lush dairy pasture of England, Europe and Australia.

It would be wonderful if the influencers with their large followings on social media would go deeper into the history and culture of the country in their digital content creation. So that the viewers’ attention would not remain at a surface level of marketing and promotion, but so their curiosity would be prompted to explore further, to develop some idea of the lived realities of the people. Sri Lanka offers incredible sensory experiences and stunning landscapes and ecosystems. And these co-exist with historical events and incidents. It’s an intelligent marketer’s dream.

So often, especially recently, Sri Lanka has been in the international news for negative reasons.

Sometimes the promoters get it wrong, in their desire to attract ‘eyeballs’ to their channels: wearing unnecessarily revealing outfits for no apparent reason which could be relevant to the subject matter of what they are saying, apparently promoting themselves rather than what they are speaking about. They are doing the country a disservice by doing this, as it suggests the country itself is not enough without ‘eye candy’ to attract the interest of a viewer. They also do not do themselves or the subject matter justice if they use substandard subtitling, producing script which is full of errors, which detracts from the impact of what they are attempting to showcase. Some influencers also give the impression that the national parks and river systems are open and safe to travel and camp in, that the trains and bridges are safe to hang off, and the waterfalls are safe locations in which to shoot action footage, with little regard to regulations or safety rules, resulting in unfortunate accidents incurred by inexperienced travellers.

Making these errors, they are missing out on broadening their audience to include people who would be interested in seeing how such a small country could have such rich natural resources, and how different communities in the country live and work and co-exist. It would upgrade and raise the level of promotion currently on offer to give insight into people’s livelihoods and the challenges they navigate in diverse sectors, and also showcase their resilience and adaptability.

I would love to see future programmes clearly highlighting the national Libraries, the Museums, the Art Galleries and other public institutions which have managed throughout disruptive times to remain open and provide resources to our citizens. It would be great if the ancient cities with their incredible irrigation systems, and the lesser known temples and cultural sites and national parks could be signposted and made much of, as equivalent sites in other areas of the world are.

I am an enthusiastic subscriber to the World Virtual Travel initiative, which began during lockdown, and with the aid of Zoom technology and smart phones, I - along with hundreds of others - have seen South America, Spain, Italy, France, Egypt and Africa. Pyramids, Inca and Aztec cultural sites, sunrise at Macchu Picchu, the Art Deco buildings in Paris, the pastry shops in regional Italy, the Alhambra and so much more. These sites are opened up to a global audience in this way, very affordably. It is up to the viewer if they wish to tip the Guides. We can travel in cheerful and well informed company virtually, without charge.

We have so many monuments and buildings here in Sri Lanka of equal age, antiquity, beauty and interest, but which are little known, even to our own citizens. The country has produced some brilliant writers, artists, scientists, engineers and innovators whose biographies should be better known. By deepening our scope as creators, with research and lateral thinking, we could extend our influence to transform the knowledge and understanding of our own citizens as well as stimulate the interest of temporary overseas guests.

Let’s invest in ourselves as well as promoting the country.