Sri Lankan Ambassador to the US, Jaliya Wickramasuriya concluded a highly successful 2010 inaugural Ambassadors’ Signature Tour of Sri Lanka with 25 American professionals and business people.

The tour, which was arranged by the Sri Lanka Embassy of Washington, D.C., began on 9 August, and ran through the 28th August.

Ambassador Wickramasuriya said that the American travellers would return to the U.S. with a new understanding of Sri Lanka. “They will be like tourism ambassadors volunteering for Sri Lanka,” he said. “Each one of them has many friends and professional colleagues -- including travel writers -- back in the U.S. They will tell them about the trip and expand the size of our next Signature Tour,” he added.

“What they really saw is how safe it is to travel,” said Mr. Sanjaya Hettihewa, President of the International Club in Washington, D.C. “We covered more of Sri Lanka in 10 days than I saw in the 14 years that I lived in Sri Lanka,” he said.

The tour itself drew rave reviews from participants, most of whom are professionals and business people and members of the International Club.

"Sri Lanka was one of the best of the 88 countries I have visited", said Mr. William Bowling, a Hollywood film location specialist and former executive at Warner Brothers Studios. (Mr. Bowling made a special visit to the Ran mini thenna film village in Hambantota and said that he was impressed by the complex).

Another traveller, Christopher Wang, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney, said that the trip was beyond his “highest expectations.” “The biggest thing I’ll remember about Sri Lanka is how the people are wonderfully friendly,” Wang said. “Complete strangers, both children and adults, just waved at us from the road sides and were more than happy to talk to us.”

Mrs. Belinda Shandra said that she was impressed by the attention to detail and the way in which the tour was organized by the Ambassador and his team.

“It has been the most remarkable experience of my life,” Shandra said. “The country is beautiful and the people are so warm and friendly and the nice thing is that every day was a surprise.”

Matthew Schmidt, said, “We have had a fantastic time seeing the national parks and climbing Sigiriya rock. It was an amazing experience and I will never forget it. Everyone here on this journey has had the trip of a lifetime.”

Ambassador Wickramasuriya noted that the trip was the first in a series of “Signature Tours” established by the embassy. “Anybody who is talking negatively about Sri Lanka is invited to come to Sri Lanka,” he said. “As soon as they come here and travel all around the country, it’s a different story.”

The inaugural tour included visits to UNESCO World Heritage sites and the Kandy Perahara Buddhist festival. It commenced with a City tour of Colombo and then covered some of the world heritage sites in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, the ancient city of Sigiriya the Cave Temple of Dambulla the old town of Galle and its fortifications and the sacred city of Kandy.

The travellers also visited the Yala National Park which is the second largest and most visited national park in Sri Lanka, Minneriya National Park where they witnessed the elephant gathering. The tour also included a visit to the Pinnawela elephant orphanage which has the largest herd of elephants in captivity in the world.