Travel

Sri Lanka ranked top travel destination for 2010

National Geographic has named Sri Lanka the No. 2 of the 25 'Best New Trips for 2010' giving the island nation known as the 'Wonder of the World' yet another top travel ranking this year.

In its list of 'Best New Trips for 2010,' National Geographic said, after the tsunami of 2004 and the resolution of a decades-long conflict, Sri Lanka is finally starting to look like its old self: a peaceful destination where surf lineups are nonexistent despite world-class waves and centuries-old tea estates are lined with mountain bike ready trails.

'The silver lining of the conflict is that the land and wildlife have remained untouched,' says Lisa Bolger, trip coordinator for Access Trips, one of the very few outfitters leading excursions to the Indian Ocean island this coming year.

The National Geographic notice, which touted Sri Lanka as 'Missing in action No More,' is the third top ranking that Sri Lanka has received recently from premiere travel publications.

The New York Times on January 10 named Sri Lanka the No. 1 travel destination in 2010 noting that the long conflict against the LTTE terrorist is over and that there is no better time to travel to Sri Lanka's unspoiled beaches, mountainous terrain and wildlife parks. It wrote: 'The island, with a population of just 20 million, feels like one big tropical zoo: elephants roam freely, water buffaloes idle in paddy fields and monkeys swing from trees.

And then there's the pristine coastline.

The miles of sugary white sand flanked by bamboo groves that were off-limits to most visitors until recently are a happy, if unintended byproduct of the war.

Also in January, the luxury-living website DailyCandy.com raved about Sri Lanka reporting that, 'Really, there's only one downside to Sri Lanka: Eventually, you have to leave.' Travel to Sri Lanka began to increase dramatically just days after the conflict ended in May 2009.

Tourist visits have jumped each month since then, with an impressive 67.7 percent jump in February compared to the same month in 2009. There have been no terrorist incidents anywhere in the island since the conflict ended, and a number of countries, including the U.S., have eased previous travel warnings.

Sri Lanka has long been known for its elegant, five-star destinations along its coastline and in its central highlands, which are dotted by sweeping green tea plantations and mountain vistas. The island nation also features an impressive string of wildlife parks that are home to Asian elephant herds, leopards and other exotic animals.

Sri Lanka shines at 'FICCI Frames' in Mumbai

In an effort to promote Sri Lanka as a location for Indian film industry, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau together with SriLankan Airlines ensured Sri Lanka's active participation through Asian Film Location Services (Pvt) Ltd and Travel Masters at FICCI Frames held in Mumbai last week.

FICCI Frames organised by Indian Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, draws the industry's domestic and global leaders from around the globe covering the entire gamut of Media and Entertainment like Films, Broadcast (TV and Radio), Digital Entertainment, Animation, Gaming and Visual Effects, over a period of three days.

Visitors to Frames include professionals related to television and broadcasting, cinema, animation, gaming, special effects, mobile entertainment, digital entertainment, broadband and convergence, radio, media marketing, live events and shows, networking opportunities are the target visitors. The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan, inaugurated the event and it was also addressed by Shah Rukh Khan.

Over 1500 Indian and 500 foreign delegates attended the event and was graced by the leading Indian film makers.'This was a great opportunity for Sri Lanka after we, together with SriLankan Airlines hosted N. Ramji of Travel Master's, a leading location provider for Indian film Industry to witness various locations in Sri Lanka, ideal for Indian movies' says Vipula Wanigasekera, General Manager of the Convention Bureau which functions under the Ministry of Tourism.

'FICCI Frames' was an ideal platform to meet most of the leading film makers such as Yash Chopra, Irrfan Khan, who were given a thorough brief on how Sri Lanka could benefit the Indian film industry considering the cost effectiveness, accessibility and profile of the country.

Sri Lanka will soon be a popular location for Indian movies following these attempts particularly when the message is communicated effectively about the movies already filmed in Sri Lanka such as Water, Indiana Jones, Mother Teresa, Jungle Book including Ram Gopal Varma's crime thriller 'Agyaat' in which major chunk of the movie was filmed in the Sigiriya forests in Sri Lanka.

Female flyers make history

SriLankan Airlines' women pilots have quietly revolutionised aviation in Sri Lanka, with several international flights being carried out by all-female crews.

Captain Anusha Siriratne and Junior First Officer Madini Chandradasa were the first all-female crew, operating a flight from Colombo to Trichy and back on November 1, 2009. Each leg on an Airbus A320 aircraft took one hour.

They repeated the feat on New Year's Day 2010 by flying to Karachi and returning, also in a twin-engined A320, with each flight taking three hours and forty minutes.

The airline currently has four women among its 189 pilots, the others being Senior First Officers Chamika Rupasinghe and Roshani Jinasena.

SriLankan's Head of Flight Operations, Captain Druvi Perera, said: These flights by Capt. Siriratne and Junior First Officer Chandradasa are a milestone at SriLankan Airlines. SriLankan does not discriminate between men and women in its recruitment for any post, including pilots, and it was simply a matter of time before our women pilots made history with an all-female flight.

Of course, the all-female crew flights are no different to those operated by male pilots. At SriLankan, where safety is of paramount importance, what matters is not a pilot's gender, but his or her experience, training, and expertise' added Capt. Perera.

SriLankan has a perfect flight safety record over more than three decades of operations, the result of some very tough standards for its pilots.

All pilots must have a minimum of seven years of commercial airline experience before being considered for the respected post of Captain.

Capt. Anusha Siriratne, 34, is at present the first and only women Captain at SriLankan, and has been flying since 1998. She has flown aircraft such as the Lockheed L1011 Tristar, Airbus A320, A330, and A340. But she is adamant that there is nothing special about an all-female flight crew.

'Women took to the air only a few years after the Wright Brothers invented the airplane, and some have been pioneers in aviation, although there have been fewer women flyers than male ones.

Many airlines around the world have women pilots, and there is absolutely no difference between the flying of male and female pilots, said Capt. Siriratne.

She has been making history since becoming a Junior First Officer a dozen years ago, becoming the country's pioneering First Officer in 1999, and then being promoted to Captain in 2008.

She and her husband, Capt. Hemantha Siriratne, are also the first husband and wife duo to be Captains at SriLankan.

A past student of Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya and of Ladies College, she is also a perfect example of a working mother, with a six-year-old daughter.

Junior First Officer Madini Chandradasa said: 'Flying for our National Carrier has certainly been a rewarding experience.

The senior pilots at SriLankan possess a wealth of experience which youngsters can learn from. But I must say that there was no difference in flying with a male Captain, and flying with Capt. Siriratne, who is greatly respected in the airline and has served as a role model for other women pilots'.

Madini, 22, is a past student of Visakha Vidyalaya who joined SriLankan two years ago.

All four female pilots trained in Sri Lankan's Cadet Pilot Training Programme, which has launched the careers of hundreds of pilots over the last three decades who have gone on to distinguish themselves both at the National Carrier and in other airlines throughout Asia and the Middle East.