Sri Lanka Tourism achieves 600,000 arrivals target

Marking a remarkable historical moment, Sri Lanka Tourism celebrated the targeted 600,000 tourist arrivals on Friday.Tourism officials headed by Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa welcomed the guest at the Bandaranaike International Airport when he touched down.

Commenting on his arrival, Dr. Godahewa said "This marks a significant moment in the history of tourism. Sri Lanka is now on the world map as a unique safe destination. With this we hope to achieve the 700,000 target set for Visit Sri Lanka 2011. The lucky guest was presented with a 6 hight 7 day package which includes hotel accommodation ground transport and entrance tickets to historical tourist sites in the island.

Since the end of the conflict in 2009, Sri Lanka has seen an increase in tourism figures. November 2010 saw 72,251 tourist arriving in the country, a market a 63.1 percent jump as compared to last year and the highest figure attained in a month since 1966. The last highest figure was seen in 2004 recording 66,159 tourists.Sri Lanka Tourism launched Refreshingly Sri Lanka Visit 2011 with 12 events spread across in year.Refreshingly Sri Lanka Visit 2011 will have twelve different theme events happening throughout the year, in keeping with the 12 letters that has been used for the tagline "Wonder or Aisa."