World famous Paul Goldstein urges all to visit Sri Lanka

International tour guide, conservationist and award winning wildlife photographer, Paul Goldstein calls on the world to visit Sri Lanka, to help rebuild the economy.

“I’ve been in the travel game for almost 40 years. My first visit to Sri Lanka was in the early 90’s and I’ve returned many times back. You’ll wonder what draws me back? Well, it is a combination of remarkable wildlife, a peerless and captivating coastline, magnificent cuisine, fascinating culture and it is truly breath-taking interior— but what really underwrites all of this is its people. 

“The people raise on the three things—hospitality, kindness and resilience,” he said in a video titled ‘Sri Lanka defined by warmth and not adversity’ shared by top hospitality brand Cinnamon Lifestyle.

Noting that over the past few days he drove all round the island and through the capital, Goldstein said he encountered a number of protests, which all of them uniformly friendly and so passionate, but indeed many desperate about their economy. “I sympathise with them, as the whole country does. If your fuel price doubles in a month, you’d feel badly let down. The blame is clear and coherent and they are doing what any fully paid human race would do,” he said.

He clarifies on the adverse image that has been built by certain media reports over the past few weeks, whilst calling on the world to support the economy with the foreign exchange that will follow with more tourist footfall to Sri Lanka.

 “Tourists are not their enemies. I’m trying to extend my stay. Sri Lanka has endured the holy trinity of civil war, tsunami and COVID. Now is not the time to abandon it. I’ve never felt safer anywhere than in Sri Lanka. Their friendliness is the country’s DNA and its hardest currency. So it needs tourists to kick-start the economy. Support Sri Lanka, support these wonderful people. Your Dollar, Pound or Euro will go further than ever, but most importantly, come and mine a few of these uncut gems you won’t feel short changed, I assure you,” he added.

He urged the world not to listen to irresponsible press outlets that shamefully ravish a none story to bankrupt another economy. “Jump on a plane and jump on it now to discover as Churchill described this pearl of the orient,” Goldstein said.