Tourist Information Counter opened on board MS Amsterdam

‘Amsterdam,’ the flagship of the Holland America Line, arrived in Colombo on 21 March. 

The passenger vessel is on her Grand World Voyage 2016, started from Florida on 5 January and arrived at the Colombo Port on 21 March. 

She had called at Hambantota Port on 20 March from Port Phuket, Thailand before arriving in Colombo. The cruise liner left on 22 March to her next port, Dubai, UAE.

The Amsterdam passenger vessel was commissioned in 2000 and currently sailing under the flag of Netherlands. MS Amsterdam has 238m length overall and beam of 32m and a total of 10 decks. MS Amsterdam is the fourth (and last) of the Rotterdam/R-class Holland America ships.

Malship (Ceylon) Ltd. was the agent in Sri Lanka for the passenger vessel carrying over 1,500 passengers including the crew from US, UK, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and Switzerland. 

Over 670 passengers travelled on excursions to Yala National Park, Bundala, Udawalawe, Mulkirigala, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Kelaniya, Ingiriya and on Colombo City tours. The ground tours were arranged by Abercrombie & Kent.

A mobile Tourist Information Counter was set up by Sri Lanka Tourism on board the cruise liner to assist passengers and to promote the main tourist attractions of the country as well as key locations of Colombo for passengers who were keen on short tours of the city.

Cruise tourism is an important niche market for Sri Lanka and this segment has seen substantial growth over the years.