Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa and Managing Director Rumy Jauffeur warmly welcomed the guest Mr.John and Nadia Chambi from UK who arrived to Sri Lanka via UL 501 Sri Lankan Airlines flight from London.

Sri Lanka Tourism offered a special gift and a complimentary package to the tourist and similar rewards were available for the 250,000th 500,000th, 600,000th and 750,000th tourist who visited Sri Lanka in the year 2011.

This year has seen a massive contribution to this total from India, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, Italy and Middle Eastern countries. The month of November 2011 breaks another record, being the month which received the highest number of tourists – 90,889 – in the history of Sri Lanka Tourism calendar years.

At the beginning of year 2011 Sri Lanka Tourism launched their marketing campaign named as "Refreshingly Sri Lanka – Visit 2011",with the aim of showcasing Sri Lanka as an Island of new found freedom ; a place where the visitor can experience everything that is refreshing under the sun .With this new branding , Sri Lanka tourism promoted 8 segments encapsulating 8 wonderful experiences which a tourist can enjoy within eight days such as: Pristine ,Heritage ,Bliss, Thrills, Festivities, Essence, Scenic beauty and Wild Life.

Sri Lanka Tourism's aim with this campaign was to amalgamate domestic and international markets alike into one cohesive platform to develop these products by the end of the year, promoting Sri Lanka as a destination that can offer refreshing experiences for anyone who visits it. All promotional activities and events in the next couple of years will be aimed at achieving the target number of 2.6 million tourists by 2016, states the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.

Amidst the rapid development in tourism industry, country's first floating restaurant, which is launched by Colombo’s five-star hotel Cinnamon Lakeside on the Beira Lake, was declared open by President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday (19).

The primary cost of the first-ever floating restaurant named “Pontoon North 8°” is 100 million. The restaurant is 70 ft long and 30 ft wide. It can accommodate a total of 100 persons.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga, Civil Aviation Service Minister, Piyankara Jayaratne, Sajin Vas Gunawardana, MP and Chairman John Keells, Susantha Ratnayake were also present at the event.