Diana Gage claims that the island can attract foreign tourists through gambling. However, the local economy is mainly based on fishing and agriculture: it would be difficult to reconvert the development model.
Colombo () – Sri Lankan Tourism Minister Diana Gamage is proposing to turn Mannar Island into a casino city like Macau, a well-known gambling destination, to attract tourists and enrich the country. She also called for the legalization of cannabis, an issue on which she has repeatedly clashed with opposition.
The proposal to make Mannar an Asian gaming capital is considered controversial. Macau is the only city in mainland China where gambling is legal (internet gambling is also prohibited and this affects the entire region). Since 2014, the Chinese autonomous city has exceeded the income of Las Vegas by at least seven times, with a GDP that is 60% dependent on casinos, while other sectors of the economy are marginal.
However, it would be difficult to transplant this model to Sri Lanka. Mannar has an old port and 16 landing points along its shores. Its economy is mainly based on drying fish (Sri Lankan parents often threaten their children with sending them to work in the island’s establishments as punishment). 36.7% of the local population is dedicated to fishing and almost 40% to agriculture. In 2016 Mannar Island had a total catch of 10,300 tons and the production of dried fish exceeded 1,800 tons.
In fact, the island already has a development plan: it is a proposal approved by the Urban Development Authority for the period 2016-2030, based on which the areas that need immediate attention have been identified. To attract wealthy Indian tourists, when President Wickramasinghe was prime minister, he promoted the construction of a highway to connect the main port of the island with the cities of Dhanuskodi and Palay, which are in turn connected to Chennai by direct flights.
According to journalist and political analyst Kusal Perera, Gamage’s proposal is a typical departure from the minister. But developing Mannar as a gaming center, in addition to implying a total change in the island’s economy, would also attract the more or less legal traffic that is generated around casinos, first of all sexual exploitation. Macau is also a prime target for sex traffickers due to the proliferation of illegal brothels, nightclubs and massage parlors.
