More tourists from US in January

by Shirajiv SIRIMANE

The number of tourist arrivals from the USA increased by 21 per cent in January compared to last year.

The Ministry of Tourism, in a bid to target more American tourists took their worldwide 'Destination Sri Lanka' and 'Visit Sri Lanka 2011' campaigns to the New York Times 2010 Travel that were held over the weekend at the Javits Convention Centre. "This is a great opportunity for us to showcase the multitude of tourist attractions Sri Lanka has to offer and build on the publicity generated from the recently published New York Times article", said Sri Lanka Tourism Honorary Director in the USA Dillan Ariyawansa.

"In addition, the Tourism Bureau will impress upon the visitor that a thousand different possibilities are available a country which is half the size of the New York State." Sri Lanka Tourism has made arrangements to print and distribute copies of the recently published article in the New York Times where Sri Lanka has been identified as the No.1 destination to visit in 2010.

"Things have changed. Peace has arrived and everyone is working together. Rebuilding tourism has become a top priority for the Government and the private sector", said Minister of Tourism., Achala Jagoda.

The Government has launched major publicity campaigns to develop the tourism industry. 'Visit Sri Lanka 2011' is an international communication campaign involving CNN, Discovery Travel, BBC and Al Jazeera. Investment dollars are also flowing in and new hotels are being built.

SriLankan Airlines and a dance troupe from Sri Lanka also participated, in the travel show.