News information about Tour & Travel from Huntington Beach Tourism Professional

"I've had clients I couldn't book because there were no hotels available," said Varini De Silva, president of Ceylon Express International in Huntington Beach, California.

Among the 12 countries slammed by the tsunami, Thailand is the most popular among U.S. vacationers. And though Americans account for less than 5% of the nation's 12 million annual visitors, Sri Lanka also attracts a large, mostly European crowd to its 800-plus miles of unspoiled coastline and temperate hill country. The island nation, formerly called Ceylon, is about the size of West Virginia. After an around-the-world trip in 1879, industrialist Andrew Carnegie proclaimed Sri Lanka's beaches and surf the world's most beautiful.

Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, a resident since 1956, wrote: "If you are interested in people, history, nature and art ... you may find, as I have, that a lifetime is not enough." And Travel & Leisure magazine dubs Sri Lanka "the new Bali" in its January issue.

Americans, who accounted for only about 5% of the half-million foreign visitors in 2003, are drawn by Sri Lanka's culture and 2,500-year history. But U.S. tour operators say interest in the country has been growing in the past year.

"I've had clients I couldn't book because there were no hotels available," said Varini De Silva, president of Ceylon Express International in Huntington Beach, Calif.

When the tsunami hit, she had eight clients on the island, four of whom returned home. The others stayed on, and one couple was headed to a beach that was unmarred by the disaster. Regardless, De Silva holds no hope for the coming season. "It's shot," she said. "I've had cancellation after cancellation. The whole country is in mourning."