Civil War has plagued Sri Lanka for more than 20 years due to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) violently campaigning for an independent state. Fortunately, the hostilities are confined to the far north and east of the country and so have very little impact on the tourist areas which are all located in the Central, Western or Southern provinces.

The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice is to avoid the troubled north/east areas and minimise time spent in Colombo as bomb attacks are possible, but they confirm that the tourist areas of Sri Lanka remain unaffected and are safe for travel.

Crucially the LTTE have never targeted tourist and it is not in their interest to do so. This is a very serious issue, but perhaps can related back to the UK for context. Not traveling to Sri Lanka for a holiday based on the political troubles would be like not going on holiday to Cornwall because of the London bombings. The geography of this conflict is extremely significant.

'Once we were there we didn't for one moment feel unsafe. I have felt more unsafe on the streets of London! We did see the odd roadblock on our travels, but this was neither alarming nor intimidating. The Sri Lankans were clearly thrilled to have us in their country and it felt like a real privilege to be welcomed with such open arms.' (Nichols Family - April 2007)

International night flights and internal air taxi routes are currently suspended until further notice.

For more info rmation refer to the website links below,

www.peaceinsrilanka.org - A government website documenting the peace process to date.

www.fco.gov.uk/travel - Official site of the British Foreign Office website .

www.news.bbc.co.uk - BBC news website.