The Sri Lankan government says there has been a sharp rise in the number of local and foreign tourists visiting the Northern Province in recent weeks.
The state-run English weekly Sunday Observer quoted Tourism Minister Achala Jagoda as saying nearly 550,000 local and foreign tourists had toured Jaffna via A-9 road during last week.
The number quoted has come as a surprise to observers particularly since the Northern Province is still virtually out of bounds for foreigners and there is very little tourism infrastructure on the ground in the war-ravaged province.
The then North-Eastern Province had witnessed similar spurt for a few months after the Norwegian-facilitated 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA).
The CFA facilitated new generation Sri Lankans to have a glimpse of the province for the first time in their life.
