Another super luxury passenger ship “Ocean Odyssey ” carrying 108 of America’s richest tourists arrived at the Colombo Port today making it the fourth luxury cruise anchored within around a month from the arrival of the first such cruise liner signaling the revival of the country’s hospitality industry.
The Tourism Ministry is planning to promote nautical tourism and the luxury passenger cruise ship arrivals harnessing the potential in the economic Development of Sri Lanka.
All ingredients already provided by nature, it is time, Sri Lanka to take a special interest in emphasizing that Sri Lanka really concentrates on developing Nautical Tourism as a special niche in its new phase of Tourism Development”.
The Tourism Ministry also explores the possibility of partnering top blue-chip companies to enter the lucrative 40 billion dollar cruise line business that is estimated to carry 22.3 million passengers, with the market growing at 3.2% in volume.
This “Ocean Odyssey” ship belongs to an American company. The ship is 105 meters long and 18.5 meters wide.
This ship arrived at the Colombo port from Cochin port in India and is scheduled to sail to Trincomalee port on December 19 (Today).
The shipping agent company “Dave Marine” said that the tourists who came on this ship will disembark at Colombo port and travel around Colombo, Kurunegala Habarana, Sigiriya and Trincomalee by luxury buses for about two and a half days and board the ship from Trincomalee port on December 21.
Then the ship is scheduled to sail from Trincomalee Port to Thailand on December 21 at 7:00 PM.
Luxury cruise ship, Azamara Quest arrived at the Colombo Port on December 03 carrying more than 600 passengers, mainly from the US the third luxury cruise with in 16 days from the arrival of the first such cruise liner.
The previous luxury cruise ship Mein Schiff 5 carrying 2,000 visitors docked in Sri Lanka on Tuesday 29 November reviving tourism prospects on the island battered by the long-term effects of coronavirus lockdowns and months of political instability along with the economic crisis this year.
This Mein Schiff 5 arrived in Colombo five days ago after luxury cruise liner Viking Mars docked at the Colombo Port on November 18., Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said that it was “heart-warming” to see the luxury cruise in Colombo.
“Having a cruise ship in the country is similar to having 10 aircraft full of tourists,” the minister said.
Norwegian luxury passenger cruise ship Viking Mars, the first cruise liner arrived on the island with some 1,000 people on board 35 days ago. The minister said luxury cruise liners began to operate on the island after a six-month hiatus.
