Sri Lanka to hold special cricket tournament, SA countries including BD to participate
Sri Lanka aggressively promotes sports tourism
Dhaka: Sri Lanka will be hosting the Asian Legend Cricket tournament with the participation of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and others in Dambulla soon, as part of the country’s efforts to promote sports tourism.
Sports and Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said the country has undertaken comprehensive plans to promote sports tourism, highlighting the positive impact of the measures on both tourism and sports.
As part of the move, Sri Lanka is also bringing in one of India’s biggest cricketers to advertise the campaign, said the Minister, adding that they will be taking steps to promote golf tourism as well.
“In the coming days, we will play a legends tournament with players such as Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch and others in Kandy for a fortnight,” he said, as per reports.
“We have initiated a lot of plans to promote sports tourism. These steps will boost the development of tourism in a shorter period of time,” he added, mentioning, they have only high-end programmes in store for sports enthusiasts and travellers.
He further informed, they have started a programme with Extreme Sports, world’s biggest adventure TV channel.
Their launch of the global campaign for sports tourism marks the first such initiative in Sri Lanka in the past 15 years.
“We brought 1.5 million tourists to Sri Lanka in 2023. In 2024, we hope to bring 2.5 million tourists,” claimed Fernando.
Minister Fernando also revealed plans to introduce marine tourism across the island, scheduled to kick off on March 31, 2024.
“Our country is surrounded by the sea. Also, we have shipwrecks from 143 ships, drowned during World War II,” said the minister, adding, marine tourism will allow travellers to dive into those 143 ships.
With these moves, Sri Lanka aims to position itself as a premier destination for sports enthusiasts and tourists alike, leveraging its natural beauty and diverse sporting offerings to attract visitors from around the globe, he concluded.
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