Coco Tourism – the new attraction – Sri Lanka Travel News

Passikudah located about 35 kilometers Northwest of Batticaloa district is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Sri Lanka for both local and foreign tourists to spend their holidays away from the noisy surroundings and be under the sun with white sand, shallow waters, coral reefs and palm trees.

Passikudah is one of the war stricken areas and today it is booming as a destination which gains more tourists attraction with government and private sectors paying attention to provide more comfortable and a memorable stay for the travelers while also making arrangements to grant opportunities for the visitors to experience something special and different from other locations.

The Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Development Ministry has made a successful effort to win the above challenge of granting a very rare experience for tourists in collaboration with one of its affiliated institutions Coconut Cultivation Board (CCB).

They recently launched a new project – Coconut Industry Related Tourism Industry or Coco Tourism – under the banner of agro tourism promotion programme presented in the Mahinda Chinthana future vision. They have established a Model Coconut Park in a 238 acres land paralleling the beautiful Passikudah beach with the aim of giving a facelift to the tourism industry.

At present the Passikuddah Model Coconut Park has developed as a Coconut Related Tourist Park and this will be opened soon by the Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa. The park includes a village that gives a tourist an eyeful firsthand experience to the traditional toddy tapping, jiggery making, Pol Pani and also made arrangements how to walk on tapping ropes. In addition to that there are stalls with products all made from coconut.

The Passikudah Model Coconut Park welcomed its very first media guests to experience this new programme. I along with the other media was truly taken back with everything they had done including the cultural show conducted by the school children from the area.

The cultural show mostly highlighted the traditions and customs of our country. The show came to an end with fashion parade where all costumes worn by the models were made by materials taken from coconut trees. Once the park is open to all, they can enjoy this cultural show and fashion parade from 6.30pm to 8pm every day.

Coconut cultivators and students who study agriculture as a subject will be able to derive a lot of valuable experience by visiting this model cultivation. This will also open doors for several employment opportunities for trained and untrained people in the area.

The tour was hosted by the Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Development Minister Jagath Pushpakumara, Ministry Secretary Nihal Somaweera, Information Department, Ministry Media Unit and whole staff of the Coconut Cultivation Board (CCB).