Sri Lanka has topped many polls as the place to go in 2013: UK Observer

An article by Lonely Planet’s Tom Hall in the UK Observer on Sunday has identified Sri Lanka as having topped many polls as the place to go in 2013 for tourists.

In view of this, Hall has listed Sri Lanka as number in his top 10 recommendations.

“Sri Lanka has topped many polls as the place to go in 2013 – it offers beaches, wildlife, scenery, food and culture. It’s great for community-based tourism, homestays and spending money with local businesses,” said the article which can be viewed at http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2013/jan/06/travel-highlights-for-2013

It also said British Airways (britishairways.com) is launching flights from Gatwick to Colombo in April from £721 return. Experience Travel (experiencetravelgroup.com/sri_lanka) offers an 18-night family adventure, including flights, from £2,168pp, with several nights in a village house in the Knuckles Mountain Range.  

In The Observer article Hall also listed Moscow, Copenhagen, France, Flaners, Spain’s Navarra region, Cuba and southern Africa trips in the recommendations.

Hall is a journalist specialising in travel. He writes the weekly Ask Tom feature on this site and is the author of Lonely Planet’s Best Ever Travel Tips.

The Lonely Planet in its Best Travels 2013 – Top 10 countries released in October last year also listed Sri Lanka as number one choice, noting “cut price paradise back on the map”.

Lonely Planet said: Battered tragically by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and wracked by civil war from 1983 to 2009, many areas of the country have remained off limits to even the most intrepid traveller. Now the bitter conflict is over, investment is fuelling the tourism industry, and visitor numbers are steadily increasing. Prices are affordable, and with low-cost flights from the convenient travel hub of Bangkok, Sri Lanka is emerging as one of the planet’s best-value destinations.

Apart from Sri Lanka others in the holiday makers popular global guide’s top 10 list were Montenegro, South Korea, Ecuador, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Iceland, Turkey, Dominican Republic and Madagascar.