A 360-million-US-dollar Chinese-funded port in southern Sri Lanka has received its first ever passenger cruise liner, contributing to making the region a tourist destination, a statement by the Ports Authority said Thursday.

The luxury cruise liner MV Voyager, with 365 passengers and 224 crew under the command of Capt. Neil Broomhall, called at Magam Ruhunupura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port (MRMRP) in Hambantota.

At Hambantota, passengers visited the port and Hambantota city during her 11-hour stay at the port and their tour was operated by Raffles Leisure Ltd.

The cruise liner was en route from Dubai, Oman, India and arrived in Sri Lanka where she first called the Passenger Terminal of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) in Colombo for two nights, then sailed to Hambantota and headed towards the east coast of India.

MRMRP will be one of the largest ports in the world once it is completed in 2016 and is funded by the Chinese Government.