His message was that life in Colombo and most parts of the country had returned to normal. A violent April 25 incident in which a suicide bomber sought to target Sri Lanka's army commander proved to be an isolated case.

"No travel advisories have been issued by any country warning their citizens against travel to Sri Lanka," announced the Sri Lanka Tourist Board. "However, certain foreign offices have advised their citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to the North and East of the country or keep it to a very minimum if the need to visit these areas arises."

The ambassador is quite an active man. He said he would like to run his embassy like a company. Anything that promotes Sri Lanka and further develops relations with Thailand will get his priority attention. He listened attentively to the comments of his lunch guests before sending their feedback to Colombo for further consideration.

City and resort hotels in Sri Lanka continue to record good occupancy rates, with some reporting they are completely full. First Choice Airlines now flies tourists from the UK direct to Sri Lanka.

"Given the current tourist-arrival figures and latest trends, we feel that achieving our target of 600,000 tourist arrivals by the end of this year is an achievable figure," said Udaya Nanayakkara, chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board.

Thai travel operators are also quite happy with Sri Lanka's tourism prospects, although the country has yet to be truly discovered by most Thais, who prefer shopping when they go abroad. In selling Sri Lankan packages, travel operators cater to a niche market of Thai pilgrims visiting Buddhist shrines to share a religious experience. Recently, a group of more than 500 Thais made a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka for an austere retreat in the forest, like wandering Buddhist monks.

Cathay Pacific Airways operates four flights a week from Bangkok to Colombo.

thanong@nationgroup.com