- Raid Amazones brings int’l women athletes to Kalutara
Sri Lanka is lining up a series of adventure and experiential events to attract high-value visitors, with Raid Amazones, an international women-only adventure challenge, under way in Kalutara this week.
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Suranjith Wewita told The Sunday Morning Business that multiple events were taking place as part of the authority’s tourism activities. He said that details of the ongoing tourism campaign, including its results so far and its duration, would be shared soon.
Raid Amazones is running from 2 to 10 November – its eighth Sri Lankan edition, held in the Kalutara District. The first group of 146, including participants and journalists, arrived in Colombo on Monday (2) on a SriLankan Airlines flight from Paris.
Competitors take part in teams of two or three in trail running, canoeing, bike-and-run, mountain biking, and a treasure hunt, with no motorised vehicles allowed. The 2026 course takes participants through Kalutara’s beaches, rivers, wetlands, forests, rubber plantations, and local communities.
The event is being used as a showcase for the country. Organisers say previous editions produced more than 300 international media features, along with television, radio, digital, and social media coverage. Founder Alexandre Debanne said that Sri Lanka had hosted Raid Amazones more times than any other country across the event’s 26 editions.
The industry is betting that participants become informal promoters of the destination. SriLankan Airlines Head of Marketing Saminda Perera said that bringing international participants to experience Sri Lanka first-hand turned them into ambassadors once they returned home.
The airline has linked its partnership to Sri Lanka Tourism’s push to attract affluent visitors through internationally recognised sporting and lifestyle events. The edition is organised with SriLankan Airlines and Connaissance De Ceylan, with support from the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.
(PA)