The Foreign Minister of Singapore will be visiting Sri Lanka from 26 May to 2 June 2012 accompanied by a high-powered delegation from the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).   One of the key expectations of the delegation is to establish mutually-beneficial relationships with key Government officials as well as the Sri Lankan business community during ...

Holders of UnionPay credit and debit cards can now withdraw money from more than 500 ATM terminals in Sri Lanka of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon, under a partnership between the Bank and China UnionPay. This partnership between the country’s largest private bank and one of the world’s largest payment card schemes will facilitate visits ...

Sri Lanka spent Rs. 56 b on above-the-line advertising in 2011 Taking wing to India for meetings is a usual routine for any business leader attached to a multinational in Sri Lanka as most such organisations have their regional offices in India. During a recent visit to India, the hype surrounding IPL – 5th edition ...

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 ...

By Cheranka Mendis Tourist arrivals in March this year had been the highest ever for the month at 91,102 – reflecting a 21.3% growth over last year. The merry March brought the total for the first quarter to 260,525, up by 21% over the corresponding period of last year. End March performance accounts for 26% ...

Intelo Networks (Pvt) Ltd., has developed the first ever digital Tourist Information Kiosks (TIKs) launched recently by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau under the aegis of Ministry of Economic Development. To identify the locations of the Tourist Information Kiosks, Intelo has planned

At a ceremony on January 30, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) helped launch Sri Lanka’s first “Tourism Roadside Signage Guidelines.”  USAID, the U.S. Government’s development arm, simultaneously released a manual, “Start Your Tourism Business,” designed to assist hospitality sector entrepreneurs.  Both publications, develo...

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 ...

Cabraal says that reserves were built to weather demanding situation, calls on the non-banking sector to seek funds from capital markets and wants it to target 70% of GDP by 2016 By Uditha Jayasinghe Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal yesterday defended declining reserves, insisting that they were built up to be used in times ...

Managing Director and CEO of McQuire Rens and Jones (Pvt) Ltd. and non-executive director on the Board of Entrust Securities Ltd., Nalin Jayasuriya, recently conducted two sessions for the top team of Servicom Medical Products Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, recently. His sessions were followed by with a focus group discussion facilitated by Nalin, on ...

Stock Broking firm Capital Alliance suggests that the 2.6 million tourist arrivals target isn’t a pipedream but achievable though it will be only by 2020, which is 4 years later than the Government and industry set timeline of 2016. “The Government projects 2.5m arrivals in 2016, but the industry will lack the rooms and trained ...

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