Social Affairs (Apr 2016)
CULTURAL TOURISM POTENTIAL IN THE NORTH CENTRAL PROVINCE OF SRI LANKA
Abstract
International tourism has recorded a tremendous growth in the past and this trend will continue further uninterruptedly. Sri Lanka has been one of the major tourist attractions since antiquity. The end of a protracted civil war has been a blessing for the tourist industry and the consequent rapid expansion of tourist infrastructure in the island. Although the island is a small one, it is rich in religious and cultural diversity. Buddhism is the main religion of the majority of people, while Hinduism, Christianity and Islam are also practiced by portions of the population. The resultant rich cultural heritage of the island has been constructed around religious practices, historical monuments and ancient cities, meditation, yoga, folk music and dances, festivities, ceremonies and rituals. Special sites with multi religious attractions reflect the diversity and uniqueness of a rich culture. The North Central Province of Sri Lanka is especially rich in cultural resources owing largely to it housing two cities that served as the island’s capital for more than 1000 years in ancient times. Only a small fraction of this vast amount of resources has been utilized by the tourism industry so far. The paper argues that the promotion of religious and cultural tourism products in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka will open up new avenues of engagement for tourists and income generation for the island. Ancient monuments and religious sites, segments of culture tourism, would be magnates to overseas archeologists and Buddhist communities.
