Three million Sri Lankans from the South visit Jaffna

A senior official of Sri Lanka Army has said that 2.8 million people from southern parts of the island have visited Jaffna so far this year, Sinhala daily The Divaina reported.

With the expected 200,000 year end holiday travelers, the official anticipates the total number of visitors that visit Jaffna this year would be three million.

People in the South did not have the opportunity to visit Jaffna for over three decades due to the ethnic violence that engulfed much of the North and East. Since the end of the war, the local tourists began to rush to Jaffna for holidaying and pilgrimages.

The official said that the number of visitors increased during school vacation months of April, August, and December.

Buddhist community of South visits the Nagadeepa island off the coast of Jaffna peninsula to worship one of the most sacred Buddhist temples in the country.