India vs Pakistan: Sun shines on Lanka tourism, economy

Rehan Fernando is excited during a 20-minute drive to the Premadasa — not precisely by the thoughts of an India vs Pakistan match that keeps millions of fans busy across the stadium, living rooms, pubs and social media.

“I am going to get a lot of Uber requests on Sunday for stadium drop-offs and pick-ups. Need to keep Suzuki Every fuelled and ready for the rush hours,” Fernando sing-songs.

The 41-year-old, a father of two, knows that Sunday alone can add substantially to his wallet.

“I heard tickets have been sold out. Who knows! Maybe I will get enough money to do some pending repair works.”

Fernando’s words are, in fact, a reflection of the general mood in Sri Lanka. For many, the India vs Pakistan match, which they don’t have any direct connection with, is a money spinner.

Fernando is not alone either. The hopes of a financial windfall waft across sections of Lankan society.

Let’s move to the posh Park Street Mews — the heartbeat of Colombo evenings and nights.

A short drive to the bustling food street through Kynsey Mawatha (road) past the De Soysa circle shows all things good about Colombo.

Glitzy buildings, wide and clean roads, showrooms of super luxury cars, outlets of exclusive suitings, fine dine restaurants — the 2km trip easily fits Colombo’s tag as a cosmopolitan port city.

It leads to a wide street filled with pubs and bistros, but Indian and Pakistani visitors have outnumbered the locals on a vibe Saturday night that runs till 2 AM.

“We are struggling to find seats for our customers. We generally get good footfalls on weekends, but we have not expected this kind of numbers,” says Michael Amarasiri, store manager of a well-known waterhole in the city.

Amarasiri has a deeper involvement with the Sunday blockbuster. His brother-in-law runs a travel company here, and the stop-start nature of the match had put them in a quandary.

“Till last week, we were unsure whether the match would happen or not. We have also received some requests to cancel the room bookings after Pakistan announced its decision to boycott this match.

“But once it was decided to get on with the match, we received calls to revive the cancelled room bookings, and also more fans from India — particularly from Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru — have approached us for two-night or even one-night stays,” says Amarasiri.

“Yeah, we cannot entertain everyone but we also have tried to link with small-time tour operators and individuals who are giving houses on rent to accommodate as many requests as possible. We also have found out that the airfare has really gone through the roof in the last couple of days,” he says.

“Maybe we can have more India vs Pakistan matches in Colombo. Why don’t we have a bilateral series between them here?” Amarasiri chuckles.

But these are people from organised sectors. The local industry is also ready to make hay on the weekend.

The Khettarama road is now teeming with local vendors selling Indian and Pakistani jerseys, hats, flags, young men roaming around with ink to print erasable tattoos, temporary stalls to give lemonade, fruit juice and coconut water to fans standing in queue under the beaming Lankan sun.

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Even the cricketers feel it themselves. Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha described it well.

“I have done at least 4-5 tours of Sri Lanka. I have seen the best people of my life here. They are very nice people and their hospitality is very good. So we are enjoying our time here,” said Salman.

So do the fans and the Sri Lankan economy.