Sri Lanka Tourist Board will go all out to present Sri Lanka as an irresistible tourist destination when the English cricket loving tourists arrive in the island to watch their team perform during the November December season.

"We are expecting around 10,000 cricket tourists from the United Kingdom during this period and it will be a great opportunity coming our way. The Tourist Board has organised a series of promotional events in Colombo, Galle, Kandy and Dambulla venues where the matches are being played,`EE said Nizam Lantra, Director Marketing of the Tourist Board.

He said the ‘barmy army’, as the English cricket fans are fondly called, would be arriving in the island on the first week of November and the matches were scheduled to start from November 18. The event dates and venues are:

Colombo: Galle Face Green - Nov. 21 - 23 Dambulla: Around Dambulla Stadium - Nov. 1. Galle: Galle Fort - Dec. 2 - 6 Kandy: Police Grounds - Dec. 10 - 14

The CTB official said the promotional programme for Galle would be on the same dates as the matches, commencing from 6 pm onwards.

Altogether 108 shops and stalls will be made available on the rampart of the Galle Fort. Restaurants, hotels, handicrafts, leather products, jewellery and beer gardens will be amongst the stalls in the area and the entrepreneurs would be encouraged to feature their products and services at the event.

The Sri Lanka Tea Board will operate a mobile tea service.

In addition, streets in and around the city and Galle Fort will be lit up for the event.

Lantra said that there were cultural events too scheduled for Galle including the performance of Daha Ata Sanniya `F1 a form of traditional Sri Lankan ritual dancing performance, puppet shows, Musical shows, Kawadi and Mask dancing. Visitors would be encouraged to take part in Kawadi and Mask dancing, he added.

There would also be events with hot air balloons, buggy cart rides along with horse carriages that would be made available for the participants, Lantra said.