Tsunami Tourism new tourism theme

After Eco-Tourism, now Tsunami Tourism is projected as a new theme by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The new theme of tourism is named after the natural disaster tsunami which killed thousands along the Indian coast on December 26, 2004. Four years after the horrible cyclone, the Tamil Nadu government is looking for options to turn the tsunami-affected villages into memorials of the disaster.

According to government officials the aim of Tsunami tourism is to preserve the memories of pre-tsunami days and educate visitors about the impact of the disaster. Beside, Tsunami tourism will also prevent the tsunami affected places completely being forgotten in the future. Tsunami affected areas which are supposed to develop as places of tourist interest include Mamallapuram, Poompuhar, Marina, MGR Thittu and Chinnavaykal.

As the intial step, the Cuddalore district administration has identified Chinnavaykal and MGR Thittu islands vacated by fishermen after the tsunami - as the locations to be developed into tourist attractions. The tourism department of Tamil Nadu is planning to obtain funds under the eco-tourism category to develop these islands. Tamil Nadu's tourism secretary, Irai Anbu said, "We will partly fund the projects."

Meanwhile, Ravichandran, the president of Killai town panchayat under which the tsunami-affected islands fall, said the panchayat has submitted a Rs 5 crore proposal to the district administration to build a theme park on MGR Thittu island. Ravichandran said, "The park will preserve memories of the disaster and educate students and tourists about the damage a tidal wave can cause to coastal areas. We don't want these places to be forgotten in the future, like the ancient port of Poompuhar, which was said to be destroyed by a tsunami wave."

Tsunami Tourism will be a hit or not let the time to decide it. But the unique concept of tourism will provide an excellent chance to tourists to get a close look of the worst affected areas. In addition to this, visitors will surely remember the Tsunami affected areas for longtime.