SL:MORE WAR !!!! NO TOURISTS!!! NO INCOME!!!

War in Lanka brings more tourists to Tamil Nadu


CHENNAI: The ongoing war in Sri Lanka may actually be beneficial on one count bringing more foreign tourists to Tamil Nadu.
According to industry sources, foreign tourists preferred peaceful destinations to the island nation.

Foreigners generally avoid destinations wracked by strife or political turbulence and Tamil Nadu, considered a relatively safe destination in the country, is an obvious choice, says Tourism Commissioner M. Rajaram.

"There is a probability that foreign tourists may be preferring Tamil Nadu because of the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka. But, trouble in other parts of India have triggered an increase in tourists flow to our state. So, these can be considered as one of the reasons for the state getting good inbound tourist traffic in spite of economic slowdown," he added.

The state saw an inflow of 17.68 foreign tourists and 562.99 lakh domestic ones till November. Tourist traffic to the state this year, according to tourism minister Suresh Rajan, registered a 22% increase despite the economic slowdown.

"Though frequent travellers, mostly traders, continue to fly, there is a 60% drop in passenger traffic because of the conflict in the island nation," said Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) chairman Basheer Ahemed.

Colombo is fast losing its edge as a popular transit point for those headed for London, Hong Kong, Dubai and cities in Europe.

"Several travellers have told us that they do not prefer Colombo as a transit point because they are concerned about security," he added.

(Times of India)
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Note from WTEF: About 1 million World Tamil diaspora prefer TN/India as a tourist/pilgrimage/cultural/linguistic/social destination and bring billions of dollars income to TN/India every year.They give another big income by purchasing jewelleries,sarees, tamil books,religious items to many 100 hindu temples in EU,AU,NA etc and also by printing/publications,food import etc etc!TNG shd appoint an Intl.Tamil affairs Minister to develope various fields including HR,political/economical/ religious/cultural/spritual/educational/medical affairs.