President Rajapaksa returns home from his official tour of South Korea achieving many economic and social benefits for the motherland. The President undertook a four-day official visit to South Korea at the invitation of his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung Bak. The President and his entourage including First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa returned to the island ...

Leading businessmen in South Korea have expressed willingness to invest in Sri Lanka. President Rajapaksa who is currently on an official visit to South Korea met a group of leading business delegates. The South Koean delegates during this meet lauded the high economic growth achieved by Sri Lanka. This progress attracted them to make investments ...

Sri Lanka says, currently 197 hotel projects are underway in the country which once completed will add 12,579 hotel rooms to the local tourism industry. According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Shangri-La, Sheraton, Hyatt and Sun City are among the international hotel chains that have entered the local tourism industry to start tourism ventures. The ...

The tourism sector has recorded a fast growth by earning US$ 370 million in the first half of 2011. The Central Bank ofSri Lankahas stated that the tourism sector has become one of the fastest growing industries in the country. The Bank’s data state that revenue from the tourism sector had climbed to Rs. 41 ...

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has earned 370.1 million US Dollars in revenues in the first half of 2011. It is equal to 50.9 percent from a year earlier, amid a strong increase in arrivals. Data released by the State Tourism Promotion Agency said that arrivals had grown to 381,538 in the first six months of ...

By Paneetha Ameresekere – Business Editor Last week these pages carried a seemingly controversial statement from a hotelierwho said that according to a study, Sri Lanka would need four hotel employees for every single guest. Ms. Arnila Thambiayah, Joint Managing Director Renuka Hotels PLC, a city hotel, made this statement, in the context that the ...

By Srilal Miththapala Just over a year ago, I penned an article entitled “Sri Lanka Tourism — Quo Vadis” where I raised the issues and challenges Sri Lanka was facing in developing its tourism industry. Of course, that was during the latter stages of the war, and now after the ending of the war, there ...

M.R.’s goal of 2.5 mn. tourists by 2016 The country’s   major hotel operators have planned to build hotel rooms meeting only 6 percent of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s target of getting 2. 5 million tourists by 2016. Hiran Cooray, Chairman Jetwing Group, one of the country’s leading hotel investors, in response to a question, told participants ...

Sri Lanka Tourism (S.L.T.) plans to market its annual spice festival overseas, an official told reporters on Friday. The war may probably have had been a constraining factor in the past to market the same abroad, S.L.T. Director Upali de Silva said. This festival, sponsored by HSBC, will be held