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GUARDIAN SPOTLIGHTS HIRIKETIYA BAY IN SOUTHERN SRI LANKA AMONG ITS ‘10 BEST WINTER SUN DESTINATIONS’ The Guardian UK’s ‘10 of the best winter sun destinations for 2018’ spotlights Sri Lanka’s Hiriketiya Bay for its “Crusoe-like palm-shaded strands and gentle cobalt surf that promises year-round swimming”. Travel correspondent Emma Boyle writes that “I used to swim at ‘Hiri’ long before you could eat or sleep at this deep, horseshoe-shaped bay near Dickwella, on Sri Lanka’s southern coast”. “Set enough of a distance off the main Matara to Tangalle coastal road to be largely off-radar … it remained a secret for years, except among in-the-know surfers (it’s got a great left-point break) and the local fishing community.” #SriLanka #GuardianUK #HiriketiyaBay #Hiri #SaltHouse

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AUTHENTIC IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES IN SRI LANKA ‘KEY TO ENGAGING WITH TOURISTS IN 2018’ Global 260-year-old travel heavyweight Cox and Kings says that for world tourism, “immersive experiences will take precedence over destinations” in 2018. Travel Daily notes C&K as saying that “travellers will seek experiences that are defined by their personality, interests and style, most of which have been evolving over the years”. Which puts Sri Lanka firmly front and centre in the ‘place race’ as our hotels and resorts, from beach to Hill Country, set their sights on ticking all the right boxes. #SriLanka #Tourism #Experience

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TANGERINE TREES AND MARMALADE SKIES? TECHNICOLOUR SRI LANKA CHARMS IN A ROMANTIC IRISH SCRIBE It was enough to bring out the poet in Irish travel writer John Masterson when he arrived in Sri Lanka, “a technicolour country that brings into sharp focus the pluses and minuses of progress”. In “a land that is still different in a world becoming more uniform”, he found what he was looking for, where love and laughter abound and “a week doesn’t even scratch the surface”. Waxing lyrical in the Irish Independent, he writes that “in 1805, the British Governor, nicknamed King Tom, fell in love with Lavinia, a local dancer whom he could not marry. He built a tunnel from his house, now the Mount Lavinia Hotel, where they met in secret”. More below. #SriLanka #IrishIndependent

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READERS ASKED TO NAME TWO DELIGHTFUL SRI LANKAN LEOPARD CUBS BORN LATE LAST YEAR IN THE UK There’s just two days remaining for members of the public to name a pair of Sri Lankan leopard cubs born in the UK late last year at a popular Norfolk zoo. Banham Zoo is celebrating the birth of the twins by asking readers to name them by emailing marketing@zsea.org—you can enter as many times as you like, but the offer ends on January 5. The story is told in the Eastern Daily Press, which reveals that Sariska, their mother, gave birth to the pair in September—the first Sri Lankan leopards to be born at the zoo in 10 years. #SriLanka #EDP #Leopards #BanhamZoo

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SRI LANKA’S GROWING STATUS AS A TOP INTERNATIONAL FILM LOCATION ‘HELPING TO PROMOTE TOURISM’ David Lean’s epic Bridge On The River Kwai helped put Sri Lanka firmly on the map, not only as a superb film location but also as a must-visit tropical tourism destination. That was 60 years ago, and film-making and global tourism have now moved onwards and upwards, with Sri Lanka increasingly in the vanguard of both. The DailyFT reports that Sri Lanka Tourism played a prominent role at the recent Focus Film Location Show in London, with an emphasis on promoting Sri Lanka as an ideal film location for the British cinema industry. #SriLanka #Films #DailyFT #FocusFilmLocationShow

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SPECTACULAR SRI LANKA ECO-TOURISM LUXURY CAMPING SPOTLIGHTED BY ‘WORLD’S TOP ARCHITECTURAL WEBSITE’ An outstanding example of Sri Lanka’s focus on sustainable eco-tourism is featured on Arch Daily, billed as the world’s most visited architecture website. Wild Coast Tented Lodge, a 36-tent safari camp and the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, is located on the fringe of Yala National Park in the south of Sri Lanka. The website notes that the spectacular five-star project allows visitors to fully experience Sri Lanka’s amazing biodiversity with minimal intrusion on the landscape. #SriLanka #WildCoastTentedLodge #YalaNationalPark

[pledgeholidays]

SPECTACULAR SRI LANKA ECO-TOURISM LUXURY CAMPING SPOTLIGHTED BY ‘WORLD’S TOP ARCHITECTURAL WEBSITE’ An outstanding example of Sri Lanka’s focus on sustainable eco-tourism is featured on Arch Daily, billed as the world’s most visited architecture website. Wild Coast Tented Lodge, a 36-tent safari camp and the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, is located on the fringe of Yala National Park in the south of Sri Lanka. The website notes that the spectacular five-star project allows visitors to fully experience Sri Lanka’s amazing biodiversity with minimal intrusion on the landscape. #SriLanka #WildCoastTentedLodge #YalaNationalPark

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BRAINS, BRAWN, BRAVADO AND FEARLESS SENSE OF ADVENTURE SOUGHT FOR THE CONQUER COLOMBO SCAVENGER HUNT! A fearless sense of adventure, intrepid determination, brains, brawn and bravado will once again stalk the streets of Sri Lanka’s capital city for the Conquer Colombo scavenger hunt. It pits wits and guile against fiendish clues and 20 challenges, which in past years included singing on a public bus and riding a rodeo bull for more than a minute. Says organizer Naweed Niyas: “Conquer Colombo has evolved into the most popular scavenger hunt in South Asia”, and this year “is an experience like never before!” #SriLanka #Colombo #ConquerColombo

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CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER SPOTLIGHTS SRI LANKA AS A ‘BEST WINTER DESTINATION’—AND MUCH MORE! Condé Nast Traveller is again spotlighting Sri Lanka for UK and world holidaymakers, not only as a ‘best winter destination’ but also in its month-by-month ‘when to go when’ guide. As a winter warmer, it says, “there’s a real buzz about Sri Lanka right now, with those in the know making a beeline for coastal spots south of Colombo. “Bright-green rice paddies and verdant tea plantations make way for gorgeous, golden beaches to the west of Galle. Surfers prize the hippy-chic hangouts and rolling waves that hit the sandy coves to the east.” #SriLanka #CondeNastTraveller

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Here’s to a fantastic 2018 for all our friends in #Negombo #SriLanka and around the world! Terrific firework display at #JetwingBeach!

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SRI LANKA POISED TO BENEFIT FROM BBC’S BLUE PLANET II FOCUS ON WILDLIFE AND SUSTAINABLE ECOTOURISM Sri Lanka’s amazing biodiversity and the way we manage and nurture our wildlife will be a major draw for tourists seeking sustainable holidays, according to travel experts. They believe that global ecotourism has been boosted by the BBC’s Blue Planet II wildlife documentary starring the renowned explorer and conservationist Sir David Attenborough. According to the Mail Online, experts believe that Blue Planet II “has made people aware of their impact on nature”, while a quarter of holidaymakers plan to visit a new country in 2018. #SriLanka #Ecotourism #Sustainable #BluePlanet2 #MailOnline

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2.3 MILLION TOURISTS AS SRI LANKA COURTS FRENCH BIG-SPENDERS WHO WANT ONLY THE BEST! More than 2.3 million tourists visited Sri Lanka this year, the highest number ever recorded, as the industry gears up to target high-end big spenders in the south of France. Tourism minister John Amaratunga told Chinese news portal Xinhua that the government will determine how many tourists came from each different country, and whether by air or sea. He also said that “this year’s increase was a significant growth amidst spells of natural disasters such as floods that hit the country from time to time, and the outbreak of dengue epidemic also influenced the tourism industry this year”. #SriLanka #Tourism #ILTM

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Amazingly brave or amazingly foolhardy? You decide! (And don't try this at home!)