Focus on Toursim not entertainment

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After the end of 30 year civil war its not doubt that Sri Lanka has been booming in the tourism sector. Country has invested large amounts of money in tourism lately and foreigners keeps pouring in to the country.
However if you travel around Sri Lanka you will see that there are not a lot of entertainment venues such as theme parks are not that common. Even the once which are currently available are drying up and people are loosing interest. What is the reason for this? Is it because Sri Lankan youth do not enjoy fun activities, or because people cannot afford it or there is some other reason.

Since i was curious to find the answers behind this i did some extensive research on couple of venues in Sri Lanka which are reserved for fun. The venues are Excel World, Waterworld and Sathutu Uyana (Happy Park).

When we look at Excel World, which was done by P.G Martin, a premier entertainment organization, was the hype in late 90's and early 2000 (which it was named Millennium park ). I remember during the week ends it was almost impossible to get a seat near the food court. Unfortunately I paid a visit to Excel world roughly about a month ago and the sight I saw was depressing. I didnt see a single peron sitting down at the food court. Actually I didnt see more then 4-5 sets of people in the whole Excel World venue. I couldnt believe my eyes.
The reason behind this was the lack of interest in young generation of spending time in such places after a few visits. People are looking for something different all the time that is the whole reason behind stepping out of the house go to a place like Excel world. If people want the same feel they would rather stay home. The entertainment facilities should understand this.

Organize different events every now and then. Advertise it on media. Create an environment which is different from time to time. Change the theme of the venue. These are few suggestions that could make the customers flow into these places and generate a-lot of revenue.

Another reason is that entertainment is not a prosperous industry in Sri Lanka is the lack of self discipline in the crowed and lack of authority to execute rules within these venues. It became more clearer to me as I visited Water world. At the beginning there were rules that everybody should take a shower before using any water rides. However it seems now that the rules are completely been ignored by both the staff and the visitors. I saw many people were in the water fully dressed. By looking at this sight it was clear that those people havnt poured a single drop of water as before they stepped into the water. The whole sight was disgusting to me. I definitely didnt want to get into a pool filled with sweat of other people. I think hygiene should come prior to religion or culture because its a public place.

Lack of technology and understanding the proper strategy is the major reason driving entertainment to the ground in Sri Lanka. In order to operate a proper entertainment venue in these ages, it requires state of the art technology which is currently lacking in a 3rd world country like Sri Lanka. Take a look at Disney land/world, Universal Studious Theme park, and Six Flags theme parks. The technology that has been used on those entertainment venues are highly advance. Not in a hundred years can Sri Lanka achieve such technological growth. Therefore a country like Sri Lanka should be focused on what they can offer.
Sri lanka is filled with Beautiful beaches, Jungles and nature. Therefore its clear that nature based activities should be the focus of Sri Lankas entertainment industry not "high teach" wannabe entertainment venues. Hiking, Safari, Camping, Surfing, Scuba Diving, Adventure sports, are available all over Sri Lanka but not to the extant where people would go to hangout every weekend. Such industries should be expanded and marketed frequently to the locals and tourists. With the correct type of promotions and expansion of such places throughout Sri Lanka would be the ideal entertainment for the target market.

Sri Lankan entertainment industry should start focusing on different angle in generating revenue to their venues. Carrying out their current plans would make them run of the business in less than a year. By changing their approach not only could they generate revenue but also they would be helping to the development of the country by promoting tourism.

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