By Frances Harrison BBC correspondent in Colombo

Six elephants lumber around a white sand beach. Dangling off their backs, foreign tourists - some of them wearing solar topi hats - lurching at a tiny white ball with a long wooden mallet.

This is the world's only beach elephant polo tournament and it has been organised by Geoffrey Dobbs, the owner of some of Sri Lanka's first boutique hotels.

Resorts are helpful of better days

It is so hot on the shores of the Indian Ocean that the elephants have to stop and have a bit of a wash to cool down.

On the order of the mahouts they fill their trunks with water and spray their bodies. But the humans just take a dip in the warm sea.

The music suddenly arrives as the polo finishes, but it belies the calm of Sri Lanka's southern coast - stretches of deserted palm fringed beach without another tourist in sight.

It is this lack of tourists that has left the hotel industry reeling.

Better days

Occupancy at this luxury hotel is only half what it was last year - though prices are only half what they would be anywhere else in the world.

The tourism industry here believes the 11 September attacks had a levelling effect - making people less worried about Sri Lanka's civil war.

And that is a view endorsed by some of the people lounging by the pool of the Lighthouse Hotel in Galle.

"I think the state the world is in you can have trouble anywhere - New York for example," says one guest.

Just a few weeks after the ceasefire agreement between the government and rebels there are already some signs of business picking up.

And it is not just the luxury beach resorts that are hopeful of better days.

Untapped potential

Smaller guesthouses elsewhere in the country are busy with repair work in advance of the next season.

Former conflict areas could be opened to tourism

With the ceasefire giving hoteliers new hope there is now an effort to refocus Sri Lanka's tourism business.

For too long it has been a low end bucket and spade destination - as the prime minister puts it - five-star hotels inhabited by two-star tourists.

There is no doubt Sri Lanka has a lot of untapped tourism potential - seven world heritage sights, great cultural and natural diversity and a high number of English speakers.

There is even talk of opening up former conflict areas in the east of the island to tourism once again.

There is still no guarantee that the fragile peace that has been achieved will hold.

But the tourism industry believes it has an important role to play in creating the peace dividend - jobs and prosperity - which will convince Sri Lankans they have too much to loose to return to war.