Ambassador: Sri Lanka may become a favorite vacation spot for Belarusians

MINSK, 26 August (BelTA) – Belarus and Sri Lanka are expected to sign a treaty on the development of tourism during the visit of the President of Sri Lanka to Belarus, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka to Russia and Belarus on concurrent Udayanga Weeratunga said in an interview to BelTA.

“I believe this will help increase the flow of tourists from Belarus to Sri Lanka. And if we continue to work closely, our beaches will become a favorite place for holidaymakers from Belarus,” said the Ambassador. Another document that can be signed during the official visit is a document on the exchange of information. There are plans to hold the first tourism forum for representatives of Belarusian travel companies, airlines and hospitality industry.

“Our island is a place where natural beauty blends with the ancient history. We have lovely ocean views and high-quality service,” the diplomat said adding that vacations in Sri Lanka are not expensive. “We would like to see more Belarusians holiday in our country. The tourists who get used to holidaying in some Arab countries need to look for some new destinations as these countries are going through some troubled times. Going to one and the same place every year is not always good either,” said the Ambassador.

According to him, many tourists would like to get acquainted with Sri Lanka. "It is just that we ourselves need to work some things out. I have been Ambassador for seven years already. When I was starting my diplomatic career, about a third of the tourists was from the CIS countries, including from Belarus. Last year, we had visitors mainly from Russia and Ukraine,” said Udayanga Weeratunga. He stressed that the visits of the President of Sri Lanka to Moscow and St. Petersburg have already contributed to the development of tourism. The same applies to Ukraine. The statistics regarding the tourists from Belarus is not satisfactory. “But I believe that so far nothing has been done to ramp up the cooperation between the two countries in this area,” the diplomat said.