Smiling serendipity

Wednesday, 15 December 2010 00:41 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Nick Davis travelling from the UK along with his wife Layla Dayani shares the famous Sri Lankan smile with Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, as the couple arrived to record the 600,000th tourist arrival to the sunny isle this year, surpassing the yearly target – Pic by Dinuka Liyanawatte

600,000th tourist arrives

SLT plans to giveaway gifts for 2011 tourists; arrivals record 45.7% y-o-y increase for November

By Cheranka Mendis

The much-anticipated 600,000th tourist arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday, surpassing targeted arrivals for the year.

Nick Davis travelling from the UK along with his wife Layla Dayani stepped into the country last evening via SriLankan Airlines flight UL 506. The couple, down here for both business and pleasure, was picked out by the Sri Lanka Tourism Statistical staff as they arrived in the island.

Davis is the CEO of Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre (MMWC), a non-profit organisation founded in 2009 by a committed group of ex-military maritime and security experts.

Managing Director for Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Malraj Kiriella stated that Davis and his wife would be staying at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel today and tomorrow and then would then visit the south for its sunny beaches.

The guests were presented with a six night, seven day package which includes hotel accommodation, ground transport and entrance tickets to historical tourist sites in the island for their next visit to Sri Lanka, to be used within 2011.

Kiriella stated that the arrival marks new opportunities for the industry and would stabilise the industry belief that good things will continue to happen.

“The arrival marks many hopes for the industry. This shows that our targets are more than achievable and will add enthusiasm and vigour to the industry,” Kiriella said.

Commenting on the arrival, Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Dr. Nalaka Godahewa said: “This marks a significant moment in the history of tourism. Sri Lanka is now on the world map as a unique and safe destination. With this, we hope to achieve the 700,000 target set for Visit Sri Lanka 2011.”

Enthused, SLT will be offering similar complimentary packages to the 250,000th, 500,000th, 600,000th and 700,000th tourist arriving in the island to mark ‘Refreshingly Sri Lanka Visit 2011’ within the next year.

SLT also released its latest arrival statistics for November yesterday, which shows a 45.7 per cent increase in arrivals in the January to November period in 2010 when compared to the same period in 2009.

Recording an outstanding 72,251 tourists, the highest monthly turnover for November arrivals lifted the total tourist arrivals for the first 11 months of the year to 569, 849 persons. In 2009, the first 11 months of the year registered only 391,028 tourists. Total arrivals for 2009 were 447,890.

The largest number of tourists for the month came from South Asia – a collective 22,091, where India sent the largest group country wise. A total of 15,550 persons travelled to Sri Lanka from India within the last month only. The second largest is from UK with 9,788 arrivals, with Germany coming in third with 4,862 tourists.