Effects of Covid on watersport centres around the world

From blog

I met Dilsiri, one of the two owners of Kitesurfing Lanka, back in 2012 before they opened their resort. It was one of the first ones in Kalpitiya and since then, I could feel Dilsiri’s illusion and motivation, not just for the sport, but to accommodate people and show them his beautiful country of Sri Lanka.

In the last years, I have been often back, for work in kite factories and for our camps and I could see how his business was flourishing each year more. Creating a small oasis for backpackers and solo travellers. Really impressive and a great job!


KSL had a double hit with the April Bombings in 2019. When COVID hit Sri Lanka, KSL had to take immediate cost-cutting actions and embrace for a difficult summer season. While they retained all staff, all of them took a pay cut in order to stretch the reserves they had for the unforeseeable future. Presently KSL is stable however their newer sister kite camp on the Adams Bridge Mannar, Vayu is having a more difficult time.

Founded year: 2012

Nr. of Employees: 50

Affected by COVID-19: All 50


KSL stopped all activities but committed to take cate of the employees and their families through the COVID-19 pandemic. Not an easy task with this amount of staff.

They halted all constructions and tried to reduce all costs. Also, KSL started a fundraising action which should support the employees and their families.

Today, they actually already reached their aim, which is fantastic! It also says a lot about the kitesurfing community!

To help KSL, find here the fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kitesurfing-lanka-fundraiser


They hope that tourism will be recovered by May 2021… and we can only hope that it happens even before that!

Let’s move to Germany now. Some of you might think that Germany does not has really a sea or place to kitesurfing, but actually do! There are even several islands with great conditions.