Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, along with the officials of Sri Lanka Port Authority, welcomed the vessel ‘Arcadia’ yesterday (2), at a brief ceremony held in the Colombo harbor.

This luxury carrier, owned by the UK based company Carnival PLC, had more than 2100 tourists on board, consisted of the British, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil nationals.

Tourists on ‘Arcadia’ vessel travelled Kandy, Pinnawala and Colombo City during their stay in the country.

Arcadia has 11 decks inclusive of a state-of-the-art swimming pool, an auditorium, a gym and a restaurant. Having set sail from the UK on the 3rd of January this year, the vessel was berthed at Cochin, India, just before resuming its journey to Colombo.

According to the SLPA officials, more than 20 such luxury carriers, coordinated by the Shipping Agency Services (Pvt) limited, had already been programmed to tie up in Colombo by the end of 2012.