Sri Lanka Tourism welcomes 250,000th tourist

Achieving another remarkable milestone in the country's tourism sector, Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed the 250,000th tourist at the Bandaranaike International Airport yesterday.

A team of tourism officials welcomed guest Ronke Noordhuis who arrived here with his family from Doha at 5.15 p.m. Noordhuis, a dutch national working as a finance manger in Qatar visited the country for the first time.

He was with his wife Inge and three sons.

They will visit Negombo, Kandy, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Nuwara Eliya and sothern beaches during their ten day trip here.

The family was overwhelmed with the surprise welcome and gifts given by the tourism authorities.

Noordhuis stated that Sri Lanka has been recommended by their many friends as a must visit destination prior to their visit. Commenting on this special occasion Malraj Kiriella stated that - this is the first time in the history of Sri Lanka tourism we have surpassed 250,000 arrivals within the span of first four months of any given year. The closest recall we had before was in 2006 where it was recorded 209,312 tourists with in the first four months.

We are delighted to achieve this target within a very short period of time which invariably sends out a positive message to the travellers around the world about Sri Lanka and its emergence as a popular travel destination," he said.

Sri Lanka Tourism offered a special gift and a complimentary package to Noordhuis who arrived keeping its promise of rewarding the 250,000th tourist. Similar rewards will also be available for the 500,000th , 600,000th and 700,000th tourist who will visit Sri Lanka in 2011.