17 October 2022 03:25 pm
Traveller Australia, the travel section of the two top Australia newspapers; Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age, included three Sri Lankan hotels in its annual roundup "The best of the best: World's top hotels"
This is perfect timed with the lifting of the Australia travel advisory on Sri Lanka.
Ceylon Tea Trails, Wild Coast Tented Lodge and Cape Weligama were nominated in multiple categories.
Cape Weligama's Smiling Moon Pool was awarded the World's Best Pool with the comment "This might be the most photogenic pool in the world." The iconic Cape Weligama image was even the cover image on the Traveller website.
Australia is an important market for Sri Lanka tourism. Having been shut for an extended period during Covid, outbound travel is set to explode and Sri Lanka should be a significant beneficiary. SriLankan operates nonstop flights to Sydney and Melbourne.
There has been an increase in organic momentum for Sri Lanka after having one property in the Conde Nast Traveller best resorts in the world list (Cape Weligama again) and being recognized as one of the friendliest countries in the world, also by Conde Nast. This augurs well for the winter season.