Visiting Jaffna is like going back in time.. it’s almost feels as if time somehow stopped moving for this city. Yet it bears qualities of a premium holiday destination of the future. Make no mistake, it will need some government intervention in order for it to blossom; and I intend to add my two cents to the debate what these interventions could be..

I personally love the market mechanism- especially its credibility in fulfilling the needs and wants of consumers. However I do not propose allowing the market to build a mindless maze of hotels, cabanas and rest houses along the sandy beaches of Jaffna. Instead government intervention in the form of town planning, selling off suitable land to the private sector, maintaining covert security within the peninsula and possibly removing CBK’s controversial (and pointless) 100metre anti-tsunami buffer from the coastline, are more productive and complimentary to the general upwards developmental trajectory Jaffna is expected to follow. The government economists must decide the optimum concentration ratio of hotels that would allowthe maximization of welfare of the tourists, residents and also of the investors.

Forget the Maldives (yes, we will if climate scientists are to be believed- bad joke) because Jaffna has the capability become the Ibiza of the Indian Ocean. Its is a case of the government creating and highlighting the existing incentives that would attract investment from the established tourism sector of the more affluent south, and from new entrants in to the newly rejuvenated post-war tourism sector of Sri Lanka. Here one could argue for tax breaks and subsidies, however I personally would like to see the reduction in the overall level of taxation across the country. But the implications of such a move can be discussed at later, in a dedicated post.

You can’t rely on unspoiled coral reefs alone to attract good resorts and high spending tourists to a particular destination. When people pay for a beach holiday, they expect to party, they expect to sleep naked on the beach and they expect to act like youngsters. I say we allow them to do all this in Jaffna, and we charge them a lot for that luxury. So value-addition is very important.

Jaffna is said to have an educated population, but I do not know how long ago that statement was said. One of the limiting factors of the Sri Lankan hospitality industry is the availability of skilled labour, and it is inevitable that the Project: “Peninsula” will face the same issue.

Transport is a headache in Sri Lanka, building an airport maybe a costly but neat option.. But one should balance the risks of over-capacity because katunayaka and the new hambantota airport may prove enough airports for a country of the size of ours. A high speed rail link from colombo, and a smooth A-9 road are of the highest possible priority.  Improved transport links are likely to correct the market imbalances of commodity prices that exists in the peninsula and the mainland.

Every holiday island has a yacht port, it would come in handy if you are insanely rich, live in south India and wanted sail down to Jaffna on your day off. Maybe cruise liners could also come and park in the vicinity of Jaffna if and when “sethusamudran” project is completed(but that’s a big if…). And in my dream I also saw a postcard that had the Jaffna international day and night cricket stadium… And it was most definitely prettier than this!

I like Hikka fest, but I don’t like the music which is house/dance and stuff like that. I would love to see a J-in-the-park, a Jaffstonbury or a J-festival happening once a year with one or two international rock bands headlining once it gets going! So we can make sure that Jaffna has something different to offer to the party-goer.

Jaffna like everywhere else in the nation would need subsidized installation of fiber optic backbone, so that consumers, educators and businesses have high speed access to the world that is knowledge. All this calls for an immediate face-lift across the peninsula and that means the government has to intervene to get rid of anything unsightly like ruins of war.

However, the Thesavalamai law is a major barrier to progress in many respects. It is argued by many intellectuals to be racially preferential of Tamils over any other when buying/selling land in Jaffna.

We can, either trash it or amend it.   Nevertheless, one can argue provided that the racial preference clauses are repealed from this two tier legal system operational within the peninsula- the Thesavalamai law can probably be used as a basis to re-legalize/decriminalize the use of cannabis for tourists, to allow naked beaches, to allow casinos etc etc ‘explicitly’ within the confines of the peninsula. I know for a fact that there is a 0% chance that the the democracy of Sri Lanka would allow most of this to happen, and I my opinion my point on decriminalization is  (highly) unacceptable.

Inflation in the face of all these extra govt spending and private sector investment may prove unbearable for the ordinary ‘Jaffanese’  person.  But If they own land, they may be more willing to lease/sell off it to a hotel conglomerate.

In conclusion, to keep it short and sweet Jaffna has the potential- but the journey to go all the  way will not be painless. You must take into account that Las Vegas is built upon a desert, yet it has water fountains that work 24 hours! so ‘technically’ nothing is impossible, but has as greatest boxer of all time once said- “the will must be stronger than the skill”