Seruwila Mangala Maha Seya The white-washed bubble-shaped stupa is a pious sight to see. Today, the stupa and the monastery are like an oasis of food, water, and shelter in a vast spread of semi-arid surrounding. Most of the time of the year, the surrounding area is dry. The soil is hard. Mostly, you see The post Unveiling Eastern treasures appeared first on Ceylon Today.

Aitken Spence Travels will commence the first luxury passenger cruise ship ‘Viking Mars’ USA on 18 and 19 November. Viking Mars will be calling over at the Colombo Port with 900 passengers on board commencing the Winter season for cruise calls after the pandemic. Aitken Spence Travel is the leading destination management company (DMC) that […]

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Moscow has initiated a banking cooperation between People’s Bank in Sri Lanka and National Investment Industrial Bank in Russia (NIIB) to devising a platform for Russian tourists to make payments seamlessly in rupees with effect from 22 November. According to this banking collaboration, Russian tourists will be able to remit […]

Israel’s second largest airline, Arkia, is looking at expanding its operations to Sri Lanka, Tourism Minister announced yesterday. “Had the pleasure of meeting Arkia Airlines Gadi Tepper Chairman and CEO and Vice President Commercial Mike Homossany to discuss starting flight operations to Sri Lanka as soon as possible,” he said via Twitter. The airline flies […]

In Sri Lanka, there had been a habit of building temples in the close vicinity of ports. These temples were built as landmarks as well as spiritual rejuvenating places for sailors, and traders. Most of the visitors to these temples were foreign traders, sailors, and pilgrims. These temples were called ‘Samudra Giri Temples’ or temples The post Temple on the rock appeared first on Ceylon Today.

As we have explained in our last week’s segment, the Kuchchaveli Temple, or the Pichchamal Vihara is still being encroached on and vandalised by extremists. Apart from the historical and archaeological value of this place, there is interesting folklore related to the place. According to local folklore, King Dutugamunu (161 – 137 BCE) brought Jasmine The post UNVEILING EASTERN TREASURES appeared first on Ceylon Today.

Global MICE industry expected to reach $ 1.5 trillion by 2025 The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), in collaboration with the Department of Immigration and Emigration, has made arrangements to include meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) tourism in the tourist electronic travel authorisation (ETA) application.  Accordingly, MICE tourism, weddings, sports events, and pilgrimages have […]

Russia’s largest charter airline Azur Air resumed flights to Colombo on 3rd November 2022. Scheduled first flight arrived at the Colombo reportedly with around 335 passengers onboard. Azur Air, which is the second carrier that operates direct flights to Sri Lanka from Russia, will operate four scheduled flights per week. Azur Air, formerly Katekavia and […]

12,431 tourists in first week of Nov. push YTD arrivals to 580,689Russia, India, UK among top source markets  Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka have exceeded the 580,000 mark, with 12,431 travellers arriving in the country during the first week of the month.  As per provisional data released by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) […]

Over 8,500 tourists in first 5 daysDaily average tourist arrivals pick up to 1,710 from 1,205 in OctoberYTD arrivals at 576,810SL kicks off on-site tourism push at WTM LondonOver 80 companies, 100 personnel on show at SL pavilion to woo British, other European tourists Sri Lanka welcomes 8,552 visitors during the first five days of […]

Earnings from the tourism sector have crossed the $ 1 billion mark by October. As per data released by the Central Bank, January to October earnings from tourism amounted to $ 1.02 billion reflecting a 546% increase from the corresponding period of last year impacted by COVID-19.  At the end of September 2022, the figure […]

5th century BC, Kapilvastu It was chaos after chaos for the Shakyans. Being the clan of the Gautama Buddha, the Shakyans of Kapilvastu faced a terrible fate. Although a small kingdom, the Shakya Kingdom always was concerned about its independence, dignity, and territorial integrity. They were proud of their birth and of being Shakyans. This The post UNVEILING EASTERN TREASURES appeared first on Ceylon Today.