Islands of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The tourism activities of Sri Lanka mainly have concentrated in the areas of around Colombo as a commercial hub, along the selected beaches of the west, southwest and eastern coasts, in Central Highlands, and the historic and religious heritage of the Cultural Triangle. All these activities cover the main island of Sri Lanka. Even though, a considerable amount of small islands is situated in our coastal waters, they have neglected in tourism development perspective. Many islands of Sri Lanka, especially in the Gulf of Mannar, Dutch Bay and Puttalam lagoon can develop using the Polymotu concept (poly=many, motu=island), which is to use the geographical isolation of dedicated sites for conservation and reproduction of individual varieties of plants, trees, animals (wildlife) and even limited tourist resorts. Similarly, weathered bedrock islands also can develop as bird sanctuaries, religious and scenic attractive places for ecotourism, and also geotourism, cultural tourism. Also, the study of islands of Sri Lanka will be very helpful for fishermen, sailors who use the nearshore and offshore, students of different educational institutions, researchers and the other scientists. As postulate, if sea level rise occur by 2100, about 1.0 or 1.2 metre or more in surrounding Sri Lankan waters, many of the northern islands will be subjected to erode and submerge frequently