Spiritual tourism to me is a new label. Of course spiritual tourism has been in existence from the time man started traveling around, whether in his own country or in other lands. But the label, as I said, is innovative to me.

Our usual concept of tourism is sightseeing. Then came culture tourism where the visitor visited places of cultural interest – like for instance going to South India for a festival of their classical dance and music or to Vienna for the Salzburg Festival or to the Edinburgh Festival whose fringe theatre, unfortunately, has been discontinued. Where does one slot a tour organized for foreigners to view the Esala Perahera in Kandy? Surely as cultural tourism if the tourist is whisked from Katunayake to Kandy and then back to the airport soon after the day perahera. Even if he sight sees elsewhere, the tour could be designated culture tourism.

We lucky golden, palm fringed beach possessors promoted and made money on our three Ss (sun, sand and sea) tourism. We next moved onto eco-tourism which of course focused on the wild life sanctuaries and bird reserves and our marshlands. The male Japanese, we have heard, visits Bangkok on another type of tourism, a deviation of which made Sri Lanka notorious some time ago. We pray that advertising in certain magazines has been nipped in the bud and that that type of visitor is made unwelcome here and warned off by stringent measures taken to protect our young - boys especially. One or two such tourists were dealt with severely. Maybe that’s why such tourists seem to be rarer now.

Space tourism will be the in-thing for those with money to burn in the fairly near future. Branson is already taking in bookings for his space travel venture named Virgin Galactic or some such.

These thoughts surfaced because of attending a media briefing on 19 October at the Tourist Board in Colombo 3.

The media release flyer had the title Exploring spiritual tourism with the Ramayana Trail. It says "The Ramayana Trail of Sri Lanka revolves round the Ramayana, the great epic of Asia, which has an unshakeable hold on the beliefs of a vast multitude of Asia’s population. Over 50 sites associated with the Ramayana are located within Sri Lanka and these sites are mostly associated with traditional beliefs." It goes on to say that commencing the tour with a special puja at the Sri Anjenayar Temple in Dehiwala, the groups that come over to journey on the Ramayana Trail visit the many Ramayana sites such as Seetha Kotuwa in Gurulupotha, the Sita Amman Kovil in Sita Eliya, Ravana Cave and World’s End and other sites in Bandarawela and Unawatuna.

I have climbed precariously way, way back in time up a mountain in the Ella Gap to the Ravana Cave, starting the climb from the Ella Resthouse. We scrambled up with no path at all in places. Maybe the path is more defined now and the climb that much easier. Unawatuna exists, of course, because of Hanuman’s carelessness. He was sent to fetch a certain herb from the Himalayas to apply on the wounds received in battle by Rama’s brother Lukshman. Not being sure which herb was needed he grabbed a huge armful of the mountain and flew back with it. A piece detached itself and dropped down to the present day Unawatuna which earned its name because people cried out "Onna Wetuna!"

This religious tour of visiting the sites featured in the ancient epic has been facilitated by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), the Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), and the Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), with professionals from other organizations such as Tropical Discoveries joining in.

At the media briefing on Oct. 19 addresses were made by Director General SLTDA, Mr S Kalaiselvam; Chairman SLTPB, Mr Bernard Gunatillake; Mr Asoka Kainth and Snehe Mata Ji who leads the tours. Her ashram is in the Punjab. Mr Kalaiselvam said that more than 3,000 devotees had arrived to participate in the Ramayana Trial last year and the number is expected to increase almost two fold this year. In fact a ten day tour was concluded on the 20th, with 60 devotees led by Snehe Mata. Depending on the duration of tour and other considerations, such a tour costs between USD 300 – 750.

Mr Gunatillake noted that religious tourism from Ceylon/Sri Lanka to North India had been taking place from long ago and the volume increasing by the year. I remember going on pilgrimage during the Buddha Jayanthi of 1956 with India giving concessionary rates and Ceylon Tours arranging the tours. My brother took Mother on a tour in the 1940s – brave man! Buddhist tours really started in earnest post Buddha Jayanthi.

Both Asoka Kainth and the Hindu lady tour leader stressed the fact that this religious tourism was cementing relations between the two nations; creating greater understanding and respect for each other’s religions, cultures and countries.

What these speakers also mentioned was the fact of poor infrastructure posing problems as one travels to the interior of the Island. Roads are especially bad and that often causes delays to the planned schedule.

We don’t use the term spiritual tourism when we Buddhists travel to the four places that marked the major events in Prince Siddhartha/the Buddha’s life, plus Sravasti where the Buddha spent 29 vas seasons. We call it a pilgrimage – Dhambadiva vandana gamana. This name will persist; we won’t use the term spiritual tourism since there is no spirituality in our visits to Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kusinara. We go in respect of the Buddha; we go to venerate the sites; we go to be renewed in our belief and remember more immediately the Teacher.

Whatever appellation we use, the traffic to India from our Island for religious purposes is increasing almost exponentially. One single tour group consisted of 300 pilgrims to India in September this year and there were many other groups at the same time.

Unfortunately on the 19th, I had to leave before the meeting was over and questions were asked. A question I had in mind was whether numbers of tourists coming here has increased since the war with the LTTE was won by the government. I got replies subsequently which made interesting reading and comparison. We had been told that second to the number of tourists arriving from the UK are the Indians. Third highest are from the Maldives. This year arrivals in June from the UK were 5,883, from India 6,124 and from the Maldives 3,427. In August the figures were respectively 8,671, 10,185 and 2,150. Counting through the year, British tourists are larger in number though the statistics for the two months mentioned puts Indian visitors on highest level. In 2008, for the first nine months, that is up until September, the tourist arrival figure were 317,546 while for 2009, it decreased to 309,142. But in July 2009 more tourists came to the Island than in July 2008. We are sure the number will pick up as the holiday season approaches. What is heartening is that figures of visitor arrivals were never really dismal.

A letter to the Editor which appeared in The Island of Thursday 22 needs mention here.

C B Punchibandara says he is "surprised and bemused" to read that the Ramayana Trail has fifty sites in Sri Lanka. "There are no historical records to vouch for its belief here. No inscription refers to it or to any of its characters…. In fact historians doubt whether the reference to Lanka is to Sri Lanka." (He means the Ramayana epic). Which country did Ravana belong to then? Punchibandara then gets severe: "To attract Indian tourists to distort Sri Lanka’s past cannot be condoned." That I feel is too strong. The Indians choose to come here, Mata Ji seemed totally convinced that Rama came over to reclaim Sita and sites there are, fifty or less, where parts of the story of the Ramayana was enacted.