If tourism is a means to diversify revenues and augment livelihoods in tea-producing
regions and to promote teas being produced, then Sri Lanka, known for tea, presents an
interesting case. Bandara (2003) recognizes tea estates as part of the countries’ diverse
developed attractions. The country has rich resources for supplying the tea-related
tourism experiences – such as nature walks in tea gardens, character accommodation in
former tea factories and tea planter bungalows, tea tasting and retail in cafe´s overlooking
tea gardens and tours of producing factories. Yet, it is a country in which the development
of tourism has been hindered by a number of crises, including ongoing civil tensions due to
ethnic conflict and the natural disaster of the 2004 Asian tsunami (Cochrane, 2008). There is
limited evidence of how the tea production, heritage and history relates to tourism in the
country. Gunasekara and Momsen (2007) noted tea tourism includes aspects of heritage
tourism, ecotourism, health tourism and farm or rural tourism in Sri Lanka.