It’s Saturday night in Colombo’s Park Street Mews, a street in Sri Lanka’s capital packed with bars and restaurants – and in one venue where locals far outnumber tourists, the mixologist sums up the country’s predicament.
“The next six months will be crucial; we need people to come here and for the money made in Sri Lanka to stay in Sri Lanka,” says Ash Handi, who spent six years working in East London’s trendy bars before heading back to his birthplace pre-pandemic.
He is a rarity in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry in that thousands have left to work abroad following the country’s economic crisis, which began this summer just as it emerged from Covid.
