Tourism – boom or bane?

Thank you for publishing this much needed article (‘Downside of Tourism: No support for local tourists’  -- Daily Mirror June 30th) which presents the most salient points relating to this issue in a cogent and rational manner,  with an analysis of its root causes which is spot on. As someone who has spoken up on tourism-related problems including illegal businesses run here by some tourists, I felt rather sickened to see the very hoteliers who  turned away us locals when foreign tourists were flocking to the country playing a very different tune in times of crisis such as post-Covid, Easter bombings and the financial crisis. It is sad to see our countrymen degrading themselves in such a shameless way. Though this mentality should be discouraged by our educational (and other) institutions, it continues to be encouraged, even tacitly. Rather than teaching individuals to  respect  themselves, we are taught to bow and scrape. I just hope that the solutions proposed in this article will go some way towards unlearning this mindset that is so deeply entrenched in our culture today.
Rohini Jayatilaka -- Colombo