New Delhi, Dated 03 February 2023, Friday
The Sri Lankan Government, which is constantly struggling with the foreign exchange crisis, has now found a solution in the Ramayana. President Ranil Wickremesinghe's government is working on a major plan to identify places associated with the Ramayana and make them tourist destinations. The government has so far identified 50 such sites. Now they will be used to attract Indian tourists. For this, the Ministry of Tourism of Sri Lanka will conduct a large-scale advertising campaign in India.
Apart from this, the Sri Lankan government is also identifying places associated with Buddhism. Efforts will be made to attract tourists from Japan and South-East Asian countries in particular. Tourists from these countries used to come to Sri Lanka in large numbers earlier. But since 2019 their number has reduced significantly.
Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Department Director Jivana Fernando has said that apart from India, people from Britain, France, Canada and South Africa will also be given information about 50 sites related to Ramayana. A large number of Indian-Americans or people interested in the Ramayana live in those countries. "When we look at our diversity, it is clear that through this we can attract a large number of tourists from India and Buddhist countries.'
In the first month of this year alone, 13,759 tourists from India visited Sri Lanka. According to experts, tourists from India have been a major source of income for Sri Lanka's tourism industry. "Last year, we ran a big ad campaign on Ramayana tourism in India. To promote Buddhist tourism, we broadcast the Kandi Esala Parahara Festival live in seven languages. This year it will be streamed live in 20 languages.'
In future, the number of tourists visiting Ramayana sites will be more than the number of tourists visiting Buddhist sites. '
According to insiders, many Indians are now coming to Sri Lanka for destination weddings. This is increasing their contribution to the tourism industry of the country. Officials said that 24.5 percent more tourists visited Sri Lanka in January this year than last year. The Sri Lankan government is encouraged by this figure. The tourism industry has been a major support of Sri Lanka. After the Easter bomb blast in 2019, the number of tourists coming here started to decrease. During the corona epidemic, this industry was completely stopped. It is considered to be the most important aspect for the economic crisis in Sri Lanka.
