Global icon, Bollywood star and former Miss Sri Lanka, Jacqueline Fernandez visited Sri Lanka as the first guest under Cinnamon’s ‘Bring a Friend Home’ (BAFH) campaign. This unique initiative by Cinnamon is to encourage Sri Lankans living here and overseas as well as expats in the country to nominate their foreign friends to visit the island nation. Hence, the hotel chain hosted Jacqueline from 10th to 14th August and created unique experiences for her in the country. As a Sri Lankan herself who is proud to support the recovery of the tourism industry, Jacqueline kick started the initiative by travelling to the island with 15 of her friends and family to celebrate her birthday and embarked on an iconic adventure that showcased the vibrancy and diversity that Sri Lanka has to offer as a destination.
As part of her tour, Jacqueline travelled to Trico Blu by Cinnamon for a beachside barbeque birthday dinner alongside a bonfire coupled with a performance by a saxophonist all organized for her by Cinnamon in celebration of her birthday. She spent a day snorkelling at the famous Pigeon Island before proceeding to Cinnamon Lodge Habarana. Jacqueline witnessed ‘the Gathering’ of hundreds of Asian elephants at Minneriya National Park, an event that is hailed as one of Lonely Planet’s top wildlife spectacles in the world. She also had dinner by the lake at Cinnamon Lodge Habarana as part of their popular destination dining experience. Her last two days in the island included her flying by Cinnamon Air to Colombo to relax at Cinnamon Grand Colombo before leaving the island.
Jacqueline’s visit was part of a long-term strategy by Cinnamon to aid the recovery of the tourism industry by fostering celebrity partnerships that can help to create much-needed hype about Sri Lanka including Cinnamon’s Bring A Friend Home (BAFH) campaign which allows foreigners to visit the island through an array of attractive packages once nominated by a Sri Lankan or an expat living here.
