The eight hubs, and two more
One building at the centre of each region

The country funnels its visitors through a handful of small heritage cores, most of them in the Cultural Triangle. That funnel is the problem when the cores are turnstiles. It is the answer when each core becomes a hub: the place where the region's own resource is grown, made, shown and sold, with a making-house at the gate where the visitor watches the work and buys it from the hands that did it. Sri Lanka House in Colombo is the model; these are the regional editions. A hub is also the one place in its region where the rules are visibly kept: clean, priced, and honest, with a complaints line that answers. Every one of the five hundred belongs to at least one hub.

World Heritage
Sigiriya, the rock
The resource is the story and the dry-zone reservoirs. The hub is a making-house at the gate where the mask carvers...
100 ideas
World Heritage
Dambulla, the caves
The resource is the painted temples and the vegetable economy of the dry zone around them. The hub is the clay and the...
81 ideas
World Heritage
Anuradhapura and Mihintale, the sacred city
The resource is 2,300 years of Buddhism, still practised. The hub is the pilgrim centre, the Sil programme and the...
46 ideas
World Heritage
Polonnaruwa, the medieval capital
The resource is rice and the great reservoirs that grew it. The hub is the heritage-rice brand, the floating cabanas on...
75 ideas
World Heritage
Kandy, the Temple of the Tooth
The resource is tea, brass, drums and the Perahera. The hub is the crafts and tea showcase on the lake, with the...
98 ideas
World Heritage
Galle, the fort
The resource is the cinnamon of the south-west, the sea, and the gems of Ratnapura an hour inland. The hub is the...
71 ideas
World Heritage
The Central Highlands: Horton Plains, Adam's Peak, the Knuckles
The resource is the tea estates and the cool climate. The hub is the tea and wellness town at Nuwara Eliya, the estate...
74 ideas
World Heritage
Sinharaja, the rainforest
The resource is the biodiversity, and the spice gardens at its edge. The hub is the research station that hosts the...
81 ideas
And two more
Jaffna and the north
Jaffna and the north, where the resource is the palmyrah, the lagoons and the savings of families abroad, and the hub...
63 ideas
And two more
Trincomalee and the east
Trincomalee and the east, where the resource is the finest natural harbour in the Bay of Bengal, and the hub is the...
47 ideasTen hubs, each with one building at its centre where the making is shown. That is the whole tourism strategy of this book in one paragraph, and none of it needs a ministry to begin, only a landlord, a craftsman and a sign.