Sri Lanka among top five tourist destinations

Colombo, Nov 12 (IANS) Thanks to the end of the civil war, Sri Lanka has been listed one of the world’s top five emerging travel destinations.

The World Travel Market’s industry report has named the other four countries as Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia and Argentina.

According to Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Authority, three key factors have favoured Colombo: the end of the dragging civil war in May 2009, infrastructure investment and beautiful locations.

The report, launched in London, highlights travel trends, and is referred to by many professionals in the industry.

Sri Lanka’s tourism sector has been booming since the government crushed the Tamil Tigers three years ago.

The government has targeted one million tourist arrivals for 2012, and revenue of $1 billion from foreign direct investment.

By 2016, it hopes to reach 2.5 million arrivals despite industry experts demanding massive infrastructure upgrades to meet this target.

The World Travel Market (WTM) is a British event aimed at the global travel industry.

Thousands of travel industry professionals, government ministers and representatives of the international media, converge on ExCeL London each year in November to attend WTM.

IANS 2012-11-12 16:34:17