Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Tuesday, 16 June 2015 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Colombo City Tour, a venture by Sri Lanka Tourism and Ebert Silva Holidays added excitement to the reigning Miss Earth, Jamie Harrel’s visit to Sri Lanka recently when the Philippines beauty hopped on board a Colombo City Tour’s open deck double decker to witness the charm of the city of Colombo.
The beauty whilst on tour was especially captivated by the interesting and colourful tapestry of many races, cultures and religions living in harmony in Sri Lanka’s premier city which was aptly portrayed by the harmonious existence of Buddhist temples, kovils, churches and mosques scattered within a few yards from each other in areas such as the Slave Island Fort, a suburb of Colombo. The name ‘Slave Island’ was given during the British administration referring to the slaves held there mainly from Africa during Portuguese and Dutch administration.
“She was fascinated by the history of the city which was originally known as a port city to seafarers centuries ago and by the highlights of a wonderful colonial heritage and architecture as seen especially in the buildings along York Street.
With many historic edifices, shady greener public spaces and a rapidly changing skyline that traces the grandeur of the future, Miss Earth commended Colombo as a unique city of old and new and a top fastest growing tourist city. Colombo was also ranked first by Master Card Traveller as the fastest growing tourist destination with a staggering 21% lead above Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province. Sri Lanka recorded 714,584 visitors as at end May 2015 with the month registering 26.1% growth as last year.
