By Shannon Jayawardena

With the festive season just around the corner, the Ministry of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs, together with many stakeholders, are working to transform Colombo into a ‘Tourism Wonderland’ from 20-22 December this year.

The Colombo Christmas Fest, being held for the third consecutive year, hopes to capture the eye of both local and foreign tourists and aims to transform Colombo into a tourism hub this Christmas season. Last December the fest displayed a variety of goods from Sri Lankan cuisine, handicrafts and shopping to music, dance and entertainment. This year’s event however is targeted to be much bigger and better, said the organising committee at the press briefing.

Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga said: “The objective of these events which are coming up during the Christmas period is to create an event for the Sri Lankan people. If you look around the world, in most parts there are so many festivities during this period so Sri Lanka is fast coming in line with those countries as well. The second objective is for foreigners, for the tourists who come to the country looking for events such as these during the holidays.”

“We have the cooperation of the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development and therefore together we can have a very successful program. Last year we had one which was a real success and with last year’s experience this year will be held on a grander scale. Hence everyone who visits Sri Lanka will have an enjoyable season,” he added.

Adding to this year’s celebrations, the Christmas fest will offer a wide range of international cuisines such as Mongolian, Arabic, Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Korean, Italian, Indian, Japanese and Indonesian food alongside with food and beverage stalls from leading hotels and restaurants in Colombo. Live demonstrations of some of these cuisines will be given to visitors to provide a lively and exciting experience that will acknowledge the culinary aspects of Sri Lanka.

Highlighting Ceylon tea, which is a key feature of the country, the Sri Lanka Tea Board will be featuring a tea tasting centre with a huge spread of the different varieties of tea that the country offers and is well-known for.

In addition, this year’s Christmas Fest will be held at the Arcade Independence Square from 6.00 pm to 12.00 midnight, together with a zone by Sri Lanka Rupavahini, which is the main sponsor of the event. The zone will feature several novel attractions that have not yet been offered in Sri Lanka such as the ‘Snow City’ and performances by Naadro and Sri Lankan bands from Germany.

A fireworks display will be held on the first day of the event, along with Christmas choirs by the world-renowned Alston Koch, Voice Print and the Old Joes Choir, music performances by Flame, Heat and Black and a variety of cultural shows by the security forces. Fifteen stalls of five star hotels and 30 trade stalls representing the SME and handicraft sector will also be present at the event.

Furthermore, a special double decker shuttle bus service organised by the ‘Colombo City Tour’ will be available from selected Colombo Hotels during the days of the celebrations to and from the venue with live carols onboard.

Along with the Colombo Christmas Fest, the Colombo Christmas Street will be held in an exquisite manner from 21-23 December from 2.00 pm to 11.00 pm at Green Path, promoting Sri Lanka as a tourist destination during the upcoming festive season.

Parallel to the Christmas Fest, the event will offer 30 popup street food stalls, trade stalls, street fashion shows, a kiddies play area, Christmas carols, music and entertainment. While half a million visitors were present during last year’s event, the organising committee expects a much larger crowd this year.

Source : http://www.ft.lk/lifestyle/Colombo-Christmas-Fest-and-Christmas-Street-to-transform-city-into–Tourism-Wonderland-/8-644676