A team of tourism officials headed by Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) Acting Managing Director Malraj Kiriella welcomed the 250,000th tourist at the Bandaranaike International Airport yesterday. The guest Ronke Noordhuis a Dutch national, accompanied by his wife Inge and three sons – Olav (nine), Lars (seven) and Nils (five) arrived in Sri Lanka for the first time.
Sri Lanka Tourism offered a special gift and a complimentary package to Noordhuis who arrived yesterday in keeping with its promise of rewarding the 250,000th tourist. Similar rewards will also be presented to the 500,000th, 600,000th and 700,000th tourist who will visit Sri Lanka in 2011.
They will be visiting Negombo, Kandy, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Nuwara Eliya and southern beaches during their 10 day trip in Sri Lanka
They will be visiting Negombo, Kandy, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Nuwara Eliya and southern beaches during their 10 day trip in Sri Lanka
Noordhuis very pleased by the surprised welcome given by the tourism authorities stated that Sri Lanka had been recommended by many of their friends as a must-visit destination prior to their visit.
Commenting on this special occasion, Kiriella stated: “This is the first time in the history of Sri Lanka tourism that we have surpassed 250,000 arrivals within the span of the first four months of any given year. The closest recall we had before was in year 2006, recording 209,312 tourists within the first four months. We are delighted to achieve this target within a very short period of time, which invariably sends out a positive message to travelers around the world about Sri Lanka and its emergence as a popular travel destination.”
Sri Lanka Tourism’s target is to record 700,000 tourist arrivals to the country by the end of 2011. All promotional activities and events will be planned in the next couple of years with the goal of achieving the target number of 2.5 million tourists by 2016.
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