Sri Lanka Tourism had played a major role in forming a Sri Lankan cheering squad in the Caribbean.

Tourist Board Chairman Renton de Alwis said yesterday that this has been carried out with the assistance of Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Washington.

Accordingly match tickets of 30 Sri Lankan students in the US who have currently travelled to Caribbean has been upgraded with the assistance of Tourist Board. “These students who were already in the West Indies were scattered all over in the stadium during matches but we have been able to get them in to one stand and thus created a cheering squad,” he added.

In addition various other items such as masks of Sri Lankan cricketers have been couriered to Caribbean to be used by the Sri Lankan fans. The lion which a lady had at the semi final match is one of those items sent according to him.

“The placards carry various slogans all centered around our promotional theme 'Sri Lanka, a land like no other,” he said. For instance, a placard showing Lasith Malinga's bleached-blond hairdo with the legend “a lad like no other” is being placed next to Sri Lankan masks, de Alwis said.

“Power of positive thinking is an effective thing,” he added.

Sri Lanka is using the cricket World Cup to lure holidaymakers as tourist arrivals have dipped by 16% in the first quarter this year.

“The exposure we have had during the World Cup is simply priceless for the country's image. The team's success has generated enormous awareness about the country. It's a shot in the arm for us,” de Alwis said.

An AFP report said Sri Lanka's image as a tourist destination has taken a beating since fighting between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels surged in December 2005.In the three months to March this year, some 134,600 foreign tourists visited the island, a 15.6 percent drop over the same period in 2006, according to official figures.

March was the worst, with authorities reporting just 35,031 visitors, a 36.0 percent drop over the same month a year earlier.

“Hopefully, our cheer squads and creative visual material will attract more cricket fans to Sri Lanka when England tours the island in October,” de Alwis said.

Sri Lanka Tourism has rolled out a 500-million rupee (4.6-million dollar) campaign to promote Sri Lanka in India, Europe and China this year.