Sri Lanka, diverse its natural assets, tropical its climate, rich its cultural and historical heritage, is an island called home by many different ethnic and religious groups. The country is fertile soil for both, good and bad. While friendly, dignified people and breath-taking landscapes dominate the appearance of the small island country, also violence has been present in the everyday lives of the islanders ever since history books record. Changing kings, colonialisation, ethnic and religious tensions and increasing Singhalese nationalism peaked in a violent civil war. During nearly 30 years, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fought for and the Sinhalese lead government on their side fought against the formation of an independent Tamil state in the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka. In January 2009, the government troops defeated the rebels in a bloody climax and the war was officially over – won by the government troops. With the end of the war however, peace did not completely find its way into the country. Post-war Sri Lanka faced an increasingly authoritarian governance by then president Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was eager to push economic growth in the country in order to smudge the traces of the civil war. For this, he defined tourism to be a key industry for growth and initiated a masterplan for the development of infrastructure with the heavy involvement of the government itself, the military forces and large-scale investors.
