President's speech woos Kazakhstanis to visit Lanka

Sri Lanka's Bentota Hotel, hosted a group of 36 tourists from Kazakhstan who visited Sri Lanka inspired by a speech delivered by President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his three-day visit to Kazakhastan on an invitation extended by his Kazakhstan counterpart President Nursultan Nazarbayev."

According to the feedback received from the tourists concerning the reason behind visiting Sri Lanka, they said that it was based upon the speech delivered by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

It had basically evoked interest and inspiration in them that led them to search further about the country, which ultimately made them visit Sri Lanka," said Front Office Manager, Bentota Beach Hotel, Sanjeeva Perera to the 'Daily News Business.'

The group of tourists had arrived in Sri Lanka on January 4 and made a tour to Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, prior to visiting Bentota.

The group had been thrilled with the rich bio diversity of the country and said that they had thoroughly enjoyed its rich bio diversity," he added.

The group was in Sri Lanka for their Christmas vacation and the staff of the hotel had made efforts to create an enjoyable environment to create nostalgic memories to take away on their return."They had occupied 18 rooms and had an enjoyable time, mixing with Russian tourists who were at the hotel. We had 120 tourists all in all and we arranged a Christmas party to enhance their enjoyment," he said. Perera said that the tourists' feedback was extremely positive and that they have claimed that they were touched by the hospitality."

They left with thoughts of returning. They were sure to take their experiences here in Sri Lanka, to their native land and spread the word.

This may help in attracting more tourists," he said.