Tourism in North develops under Uthuru Vasanthaya

Hiran H. Senewiratne

The Government's development program under Uthuru Vasanthaya will mainly focus on tourism development in the Northern Province. The Tourism Ministry will soon launch short to medium term development projects under the Uthuru Vasanthaya program.

The Tourism Ministry has collected and identified information on tourist promotional projects, through different agencies and will implement them in the North. Tourism in the area has been untapped for more than three decades due to the war situation, Tourism Ministry Director Planning Anura Ranasinghe said.

He said the projects will include tourist investment promotions, access, visitor facility development and sanitation and the development of tourist attraction and accommodation facilities.

All short term projects are expected to be completed in 180 days while the medium term project will be completed within two years. The most important at this moment is to develop the human resource, he said.

Programs are also underway to start a Colombo and Jaffna domestic flights service, improve and develop hotels, rest houses, tourist bungalows and other accommodation facilities. A booklet and a website will also be launched covering tourist attractions in the North, Ranasinghe said.

Ranasinghe said several religious places in the North including Nallur, Madu, Nagadipa, Calvary temple and Murrukan temple will be developed and tour operators enlightened on these places of worship.

These proposals could be speedily implemented if the Government resettles all Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in their homelands and once the infrastructure in the area is developed.

According to Government sources with the dawn of the peace and normality after three decades of war, IDPs are still in camps and basic infrastructure facilities are in primitive stages. If these issues are addressed, the tourist industry will have an exponential growth, Tourism Ministry sources said.