Garbage Tourism

This is probably one of the best videos on Sri Lanka tourism i have ever seen. One, because it focuses on Sri Lankan tourists and two, because it is highly entertaining but still gets across a message.

Garbage. Trash. Pollution.

Look at any ‘trip’ that Sri Lankans do and you will see garbage in their wake. Numerous are the occasions that the Sinhalaya Travels crew have gone to some pristine untouched location in a beautiful remote corner of the island and found the effect to be ruined by stray plastic bags, chocolate and toffee wrappers.

And well, its not really just about the effect at the end of the day, we are talking about serious harm to the environment, and that too to locations that are highly prized by all Sri Lankans. On my last visit to Trinco i was especially appalled at the amount of trash local tourists generously scatter about.

The scribbling of walls, carving of trees, pastings of chewing gum, random disposal of garbage into the open environment must stop. And the public needs to be educated. This video is a great first step, and it being taken by a government body is an encouraging sign.

Only the government has the media clout to reach out to educate the people at large. And well, it’ll be great to see them use this for positive propaganda for a change. Hopefully they’ll follow this up with the necessary infrastructure like signboards and trash disposal systems, which there is a serious dearth of.

The song speaks nostalgically of the beauty of the country. The deeply ironic effect it has when coupled with the visuals may be slightly lost if you don’t understand the words.

And as for that poor girl who got spat on with beetle juice. I’ve been there. Happened to me once in Jaffna. Not nice to be on the receiving end of a projectile of a massive red gob of spit.