In November, Super luxury liner MV. Mein Schiff 3 became one of the most luxurious liners which docked in Sri Lanka this year with 2,430 passengers on board. It started its journey from Europe in May and was heading to Phuket, Thailand, calling to UAE, several European ports, and Mumbai Port en route.
Earlier His Excellency the President Maithripala Sirisena declared 2017, 2018 and 2019 the years of tourism and investment and the growing number of cruise ships seen at the port of Colombo is a promising achievment in the frame of the total goal of increasing the tourists arrivals.
While the port of Colombo is ranked number 1 port in the world for container circulation leaving behind some of the most important Asian, European and Middle Eastern ports, it has still a long way to go to achieve the leadership in the cruise sector, too. An exclusive 3-year plan has been recently introduced for further development of the port facilities aiming at securing Sri Lanka's position as the major maritime gateway to South Asia.
More Cruise Liners Call to Colombo
News in Asia
This year, the port of Colombo has seen a notable rise in the numbers of cuise ships calling to the port. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority have reported that 45 cruise ships called to Colombo during the first 10 months of 2018, an almost 30% increase on year-to-year bases.