COLOMBO, Oct. 26(Xinhuanet)-- Sri Lanka will soon be turned into a popular tourist destination for Middle Eastern countries with anannual projected arrival of between 30,000 to 40,000 tourists, Daily News said Wednesday.

Tourism Deputy Minister Faizer Mushthapa gave the remarks at a press conference at the Tourism Ministry on Tuesday after finishing his tour of some Middle Eastern countries.

The minister along with several key tour operators of the country visited the Middle East from Oct. 9 to 16, promoting Sri Lanka tourism in Jedda, Riyadh and Dammam.

"Many people in the Middle East basically don't know about Sri Lanka and its popularity as a tourist destination. They know Sri Lanka only as a housemaid-providing country. During the promotional campaign, when we offered what we have, they were surprised and responded fabulously," he said.

"Last year we received only 10,000 tourist arrivals from the Middle East. But now we are expecting this to increase to between 30,000 to 40,000 annually with the new promotional campaign to be put into gear shortly," he said. Enditem