Coimbatore: More than 100 travel agencies from in and around the district attended a roadshow conducted by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau here on Friday.
Tourism in the island nation goes beyond beaches, water sports, Buddha temples and Colombo, said assistant director of the bureau Viranga Bandara.
“We are specifically promoting the Ramayana trail among South Indians, especially history and mythology lovers. We have taken a lot of efforts to identify and develop the historic locations so that devotees and pilgrims can experience Ramayana. We take tourists to the many sites associated with Ramayana scattered across the country,” he said.
The trail includes visits to almost 50 Ramayana sites, including the Sita Eliya temple or Sita’s Fort, Sita’s tear pond that never dries up even during a drought, the ancient sites of Lankapura, the Ravana caves, Rumasala where Hanuman is believed to have placed the mountain he brought from the Himalayas, Ussangoda, where Hanuman is believed to have set fire to houses and Yudhaganawa, where the final battle between the two armies are said to have taken place.
The bureau expects tourism arrival from India to increase by 20% this year.
“We had around 3.84lakh visitors from India last year making it one of the five top tourist arrival markets for Sri Lanka. We expect it to touch 4.5 lakh this year,” said Bandara.
SriLankan Airlines operates direct flights between Colombo and Coimbatore four days a week.
