Jaffna which was dead for nearly 35 years is slowly waking up though apparently the ‘promised land’ is some distance away.
To gauge the reawakening and rediscover the ‘lost land’, members of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) in a bid to promote Jaffna as another travel destination like Anuradhapura or Polonnaruwa underwent a 3-day extensive tour to Jaffna, last week. A Business Times team also joined the tour.
Tilak T Thilagaraj, Managing Director, Tilko Jaffna City Hotel appraising Ms Gayangi Wirasinha of United Holidays about the hotel situation in Jaffna. Pix by Quintus Perera
On the sidelines of the dinner thrown by Tilko Jaffna City Hotel in honour of the visiting SLAITO mission, Mahen Kariyawasan, President, SLAITO told the Business Times that, “We wanted to rediscover ourselves, the actual ground situation, the strengths and potentials of Jaffna, so that we can properly focus Jaffna and add it to our inbound travellers’ itinerary.”
He said that they themselves have to be acquainted by these places of travel interest so that they could appraise the foreigners.
“I am amazed; it is a great place to be visited, though there are little things that have to be sorted out. Hotels are quite good”, he revealed. In Jaffna, he said the scope is vast.
