The eight hubs, and two more

One building at the centre of each region

A great hall with a glowing relief map of Sri Lanka in the floor, every district carrying its products, seen from a balcony
Sri Lanka House, as it might look one day: the island in the floor of the great hall, every district carrying what it makes. A concept, not a building. Illustration created with the help of AI.

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.

Sri Lanka House, the model

Sigiriya rock rising from misty forest at dawn, seen from a distance, dark moody sky with a gold light on the rock's face

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
The Dambulla cave temple in Sri Lanka at dusk: a long whitewashed colonnaded front with arched doorways and red clay-tiled roofs, built under the overhang of a huge dark granite rock, oil lamps glowing in the doorways, no people. Real Sri Lankan Buddhist architecture, NOT Indian or Petra-style carved rock facades

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
A vast white stupa at dusk reflected in still water, a few oil lamps glowing, dark blue sky

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
The ancient Vatadage of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka, at golden hour: a round raised stone terrace with concentric rings of slender weathered grey stone pillars, a carved semicircular moonstone at the foot of the steps, old brick walls, dry-zone trees, long shadows, no people. Sri Lankan ruins, NOT Greek or Roman columns, NO cypress trees

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
Kandy Lake in Sri Lanka at dusk with the Temple of the Tooth on its shore: a white two-storey Kandyan building with an octagonal pavilion and red clay-tiled roofs, the low white wave-patterned wall along the lake edge, misty green hills behind, warm lamps reflected in the still water. Kandyan architecture, NOT Chinese or Japanese pagodas

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
A white lighthouse on old fort ramparts at golden hour, palms and the sea, dark warm sky

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
Tea hills in soft mist at dawn with a conical mountain peak behind, gold light breaking through

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
Rainforest canopy in mist with a single shaft of gold light, dark green, no people

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
Palmyra palms against a dusk sky beside a white colonial library building with a dome, warm light in its windows

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
Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, at dusk seen from Swami Rock: a deep blue natural harbour below a steep dark cliff, a South Indian style Hindu temple tower (gopuram) with warm lights on the headland, small fishing boats with lanterns on the water below. NOT a Greek or Mediterranean temple

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 ideas

Ten 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.