Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.4, 46-64, Spring 2016 Social Affairs: A Journal for the Social Sciences ISSN 2478-107X (online) www.socialaffairsjournal.com CULTURAL TOURISM POTENTIAL IN THE NORTH CENTRAL PROVINCE OF SRI LANKA* Ven.Wijitapure Wimalaratana** Department of Economics, University of Colombo, 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. Keywords: Buddhism, Culture, Monuments, Religion, Tourists INTRODUCTION * A previous version of this paper has appeared in Sri Lanka, a mango fruit or tear drop shaped the Journal of Economic Development (2013), 217, pp. 15-40 island in the Indian Ocean, is located just below ** Author e-mail the southern-most tip of India. It is separated [email protected] from the Indian subcontinent by the thin Palk ©2016 Social Affairs Journal. This work is straight and Gulf of Mannar. The island is also licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- known as Heladiva, Taprobane,Ceylon, the NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Island of Serendipity or Pearl of Asia. It lies -46- Cultural Tourism Potential in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka Ven.Wijitapure Wimalaratana just above the equator between 5° 55’ N and in the country. In addition, the country has 9° 55’ N and between the eastern longitudes 23 municipalities and 41 town councils 79° 42’ and 81° 52’. Sri Lanka covers a total (Department of Census and Statistics 2012). area of 65,610 square km (25,332 square The island was home to some 7.5 million miles) with the coastline extending to cover people in 1950 and the number had increased 1,340 km (833 miles). The maximum length to 21 million by 2013. The annual average and width of the country is 435 km and 225 population growth rate during the same period km respectively. It is a tropical island exposed of time has declined from 3.3 percent to 0.8 to sea breeze and rain, and accommodates percent. The percentage of rural population land elevation that affords different climatic at the beginning of this period stood at 84.7 conditions. The day time average annual percent while the urban population was 15.3 temperature in the island as a whole varies percent. This composition has only changed from a lowest of 28oC to a highest of 32oC. marginally over a long period of six decades The mean temperature of the island changes as the country mostly has a rural sector from a cold low of 16oC in Nuwara-Eliya in friendly settlement pattern. The population the Central hilly lands to a high of 32oC in density, however, has increased from 126 Trincomalee on the Northeastern coast to 327 persons per square kilo meter during (Wimalaratana 2000). this period of time (Central Bank of Sri Lanka The annual rainfall distribution is used 2013). to divide Sri Lanka into three major agro Sri Lanka has gradually transformed from climatology zones namely the Wet Zone in a low income country to a lower middle the southwestern region including central hill income country over the past sixty years country; Dry Zone covering predominantly or so. Per capita GDP of the island was northern, north central, deep southand US$ 114 in 1950 and this has increased to eastern parts of the country and Intermediate US$ 3280 by 2013 adding around US$ 49 Zone running between the two majorclimatic to the per capita income every year during zones. The dry zone covers 63.5 percent of this long period of time (Central Bank of Sri the land mass of the country while the wet Lanka 2013). Poverty has been the most and intermediate zones cover 23.2 percent disturbing factor of Sri Lankan society in and 13.3 percent respectively.All the major the past 60 years or so and its pressure will colonial plantation crops- tea, rubber and impact the delicate balance of the society in coconut- are virtually concentrated in the years to come. Post-independence livelihood wet zone while huge tracts of rice fields development programmes, especially in the are located in the dry areas of the country. domestic agricultural sector, and a number The mixed crop garden consisting of fruits, of welfare policies have reduced poverty vegetables, spices and other perennial crops to a great extent. Household income and is a common characteristic everywhere in expenditure surveys suggest that national the island even though there are regional poverty headcount ratio stood at 26.1 in variations of products. Administratively the 1990/91 and subsequently it has declined to island is divided into 09 Provinces as the first 6.7 in 2012/2013 (Department of Census and tier and 25 Districts as the second tier. A district Statistics 2014). The overall socio-economic is again divided into a number of Divisional development of the island is better compared Secretary (DS) divisions and it is subdivided to the growth of its per capita income and into Grama Niladari (GN) divisions, the also to many other developing countries. smallest administrative division. There are Currently Sri Lanka stands at 72nd place of 330 DS divisions and 14022 GN divisions -47- Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.4, 46-64, Fall 2016 the Human Development index (HDI), out change. The expansion of the country’s only of 187 countries and territories in the world international airport in Colombo was carried (UNDP 2014). out only in the second half of the 1960s and the new terminal building was opened in Sri Lanka is a multi-cultural, multi-religious, 1968. The Sri Lanka hotel school as a public multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic country. The entity was incorporated to provide skilled objective of this paper is to examine the man power to the tourism industry in 1964 potential of religious and cultural tourism in Sri and the Ceylon Tourism Board was formed Lanka to strengthen the economic capacity in 1966. The newly formed Ceylon Tourism of the country, paying special attention to the Board made an all-out effort with many island’s resource heritage and its regional innovative strategies to promote the industry. diversity. The North Central Province, the It was, however, a fruitless exercise as the cradle of Sri Lankan culture and religion government was following inward looking and with a recorded history from 6 BC has been anti-private sector policies until the economic selected for this purpose. Secondary data as liberalization of 1977. These developments well as field observations and interviews with checked the progress of the tourism industry key informants have been the major sources until the end of the civil war in 2009. The of information for this paper. Tourism Development Authority was formed in 2005 to promote the industry during the TOURISM IN SRI LANKA civil war period (Central Bank 2011; 2013). A dedicated tourism promotion strategy Now the tourism industry is recording was absent in the country for a long period unprecedented rapid progress in the of time. The economy under British rule aftermath of the civil war. revolved around the profitable plantation sector and paid little or no attention to “The Sri Lankan tourism industry, being one promote the tourism sector which, if tapped, of the fastest growing industries of the post would have proven a great source of conflict economy, achieved a multitude of income. The colonial administration formed success during 2015.” (Central Bank 2015). the Government Tourist Bureau in 1937 to provide facilities and services to the large Local and foreign investment is constantly volume of cruise passengers travelling in flowing into the sector although religious and between the East and West passing the cultural tourism is not promoted as a special Colombo port. It is estimated that over one product of the industry. Tourist arrivals are hundred thousand passengers received the expected to rise exponentially in the near services and facilities of the Colombo port future, as the country is currently enjoying annually during this period of time. At the a new era of political stability and security. onset of the Second World War, however, Additionally, old tourist attractions in the the number of passenger ships that stopped war ravaged areas have been added to the at the Colombo port declined dramatically tourism product basket. and thereby negated the need for a Tourist Tourist arrivals as well as tourist receipts and Bureau.