Rohantha new Tourism Promotion Chief; Withana new Development Authority boss

Tourism and Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake has appointed top professionals Rohantha Athukorala as the new Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and Paddy Withana as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.
The appointments were announced during Minister Dissanayake’s speech at the opening of Bansei by Hotel J in Hikkaduwa on Friday. He expressed optimism on the future and said the appointments would help to boost the tourism sector through effective consultation with industry stakeholders.
Athukorala is a Chartered Marketer and multiple award-winning marketer and business leader.

He is a recipient of the global business leadership award 2013 in Singapore and an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School. He holds an MBA (Sri J), Doctoral Candidate (ATI), Dip, M (UK), PG Dip. Mktg (Sri.J) FCIM. Rohantha is also one of the longstanding and regular columnist in the Daily FT.
He has previously served as the Chairman of Sri Lanka Export Development Board for five years. He has also served the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) as Head of Portfolio Development, Johnson Diversey India, Reckitt Benckiser. He has been member of the Sri Lanka Tea Board Marketing and Promotional committee and as a Senior Advisor for the Ministry of industry and Commerce. He is currently Country Head for Turner Investments (USA).
Withana is a tourism industry veteran and has previously served as Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourist Board as well.
Withana also served as a former Director Food and Beverage, Keells Hotels Sri Lanka and Maldives. He was also a former Director/General Manager of Keells Hotels. A past Chairman of the Hotel and Catering International Management Association UK Sri Lanka chapter, he is also a Fellow and Past President of the Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association. Most recently he served as the Director of the Pegasus Hotels of Ceylon Plc.