"MS Amsterdam" the flagship of the Holland America Line, on her Grand World Voyage 2016, arrived in Colombo on Monday. The passenger vessel started from Florida on 5th January 2016 and arrived in Colombo port on 21st March 2016. She had called at Hambanthota Port on 20th March 2016 from the Port Phuket, Thailand before arriving in Colombo. Cruise liner left on 22nd March to her next port, Dubai, UAE.

A mobile Tourist Information Counter ws setup by Sri Lanka Tourism on board the cruise liner to assist passengers and to promote main tourist attractions of the country as well as key locations of Colombo for passengers who were keen on short tours of the city.

Malship (Ceylon) Limited, was the agent in Sri Lanka for the passenger vessel carrying over 1500 passengers including the crew from US, UK, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and Switzerland. Over 670 passengers travelled on excursions to Yala National Park, Bundala, Udawalawe, Mulkirigala, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Kelaniya, Ingiriya and on Colombo City tours. The ground tours were arranged by Abercrombie & Kent.

"Amsterdam" passenger vessel was commissioned in 2000 and currently sailing under the flag of Netherlands. MS Amsterdam has 238m length overall and beam of 32m and a total of 10 decks. MS Amsterdam is the fourth (and last) of the Rotterdam/R-class Holland America ships.

Cruise Tourism is an important niche market for Sri Lanka and this segment has seen a substantial growth over the years.