Ayurveda just the tonic for Sri Lankan tourism

Negombo's natural attributes have long been served up as a piece of paradise to eager tourists with the temptations of the tropics on their mind.

The slick advertising copy has worked a treat. Parties of package tourists from cooler climes have put aside their reservations about security and come in droves, keeping Sri Lanka's tourism afloat as the country battled a mighty image problem with the civil war raging in the north.

For many of the visitors, the softly-softly introduction to a foreign, exotic land found at this palm-fringed, sun-kissed strip of sand is just what they are looking for.

At choice hotels a short drive from Sri Lanka's only international airport, they can dine on grand buffets, even partaking of a taste of the local cuisine if they so wish, and shop for trinkets at the row of "German-is-spoken-here" stores lining the main tourist drag.

The down side that inevitably comes with the territory at a mass tourist spot -- the hawkers who will not take no for an answer as they tout their wares to tourists trying to catch a few rays on the beach, the deaf mute who trails after visitors, proffering his "donation card" -- are no doubt dutifully overlooked as just part of the exotic adventure.

Now, however, with Sri Lanka savoring the optimism of this year's peace deal after the bloody, costly 18-year-long war, Negombo's sunny climate is shining on a new tourist market: Ayurvedic getaways.

"We are now trying to bring a higher end tourist to Sri Lanka, through Ayurveda and ecotourism escapes," said Hiran Cooray, managing director of Jetwing Hotels Ltd., which is among the top three travel agencies in the country.

Cooray and others in the tourist business are hoping for a return to the heyday of the 1970s, when Sri Lanka was a "seller's market" and Americans were among the top visitor arrivals. The war put a stop to all of that, and Sri Lanka gradually morphed into the stomping ground of the European package tourist as well as backpackers tripping down Asia's hippie trail.

"We'll always be eternally grateful to our tour operators who loyally supported us and kept on us the world tourism map," said Cooray. "But, we were solely dependent on the package tours. We'd like to have a mix, but not throw them (package tours) away."

The takeoff in Ayurveda escapes in Sri Lanka has been phenomenal: Hotels and resorts offering the ancient holistic treatment that originated in India have sprung up all over the country to cater to foreign tourists interested in putting their mind, body and spirit in balance.

For Jetwing's Negombo hotels, what started out as weekly visits by an Ayurvedic practitioner in the mid-1990s has led to the construction of a villa resort, set to open in October, on a quiet side street off the main road.

Cooray, who readily admitted to being "surprised" by the success of the Ayurveda services, credited Rookamanie Fernando, a PR manager at one of its Negombo hotels, with being the apostle for Ayurveda's benefits.

Despite the management's initial reluctance, Fernando persisted with her plans, hiring a doctor and treatment staff, who take care of the pampering as well as dispensing the medicine. She also reached out to tour agents in Germany and Austria, where she had lived for several years, and later looked to other markets in Europe.

From two treatment rooms, the demand has led to the expansion to a main treatment center, which will be ringed by villas, a swimming pool and a restaurant serving only Ayurveda meals (people in the Ayurveda program are currently accommodated at other local hotels during their stay).

Inevitably, charlatans have tried to take advantage of interested tourists with little knowledge of real Ayurveda.

Dr. LPA Karunatilake, a senior lecturer and consultant at the University of Colombo's Institute of Indigenous Medicine, the only Sri Lankan college to offer a degree in Ayurvedic studies, said Ayurvedic medicine should have no side effects.

"The fundamental of the Ayurvedic medical system is good knowledge," said Karunatilake, who is also the consultant to the Negombo Ayurveda facility. "If it is in a quack's hands, then there may be problems. There aren't many qualified people out there."

He advises would-be Ayurvedic patients to check out the credentials of the practitioners, including, if necessary, with the Sri Lankan government's Department of Ayurveda.