DESTINATION/ Sri Lanka – Island with a Soul

Sri Lanka is blessed with numerous tourist attractions within its borders, from beautiful beaches to scenic mountainous regions, heritage and religious sites. Some of the leading heritage sites in Sri Lanka include; Anuradhapura – Ancient Kingdom This city is labeled as the greatest monastic city of the ancient world, spanning 437 BC - 845 AD. It was the seat of the kingdom of Sri Lanka till the 11th century. The city was the backbone of the Sinhalese Buddhist civilization and it is a UNESCO w...

Tourism in Sri Lanka is among the major economic activities that earn the country foreign income. For the past years, the world tourism industry has been hit by global economic and political pressures causing a decrease in the number of travelers to different destinations. However, Sri Lanka’s tourism has experienced a tremendous growth with more than one million tourists visiting the country in 2012. Last year was an historical year for the country and it marked a new face of the tourism ind...

Sri Lanka has enjoyed a considerable interest of travelers since ancient times, because of its beauty, many natural attractions, and prime location along the globe's most travelled sea lanes. In fact, back in the 12th century, Marco Polo described it as the world finest island. However, it wasn't until 1937 when the British government, who was ruling Sri Lanka at the time, established an official bureau of tourism. Initially it mainly promoted beaches, but has since spread throughout the island...

The Sri Lankan tourism industry surpassed the targets set in the Five-Year Strategic Plan once again and is therefore confident of achieving the goal of 1.25 million tourists in the year 2013. The confidence comes in the wake of priority given by industry and the authorities to properly market as well as promote the destination. Sri Lanka hit the 2011 target of 800,000 arrivals on December 19 and finished the year with a historic count of 855,975 tourists. In 2012, the tourist arrivals were a...