Yala is the undisputed home of the Sri Lankan leopard, the star attraction of the Yala National Park. With Sri Lanka claiming the highest density of leopard in Yala within 140 kilometres, the newest phenomenon in these illusive cats is the rapidly growing population, which has naturally seen them venture out of the park and ...

In tandem with the private sector rush to harness the post-war tourism rebound, the Government this week joined the trend by kicking off its own Rs. 300 million resort in Anuradhapura, though targeting domestic tourists. Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa on the sidelines of Deyata Kirula laid the foundation stone for a tourist resort ...

Following is the ‘Zheng He’ oration delivered by Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa last Tuesday at the Auditorium of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management ( Hotel School) 78 Galle Road, Colombo 3 The tourism industry in Sri Lanka has reached a stage

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...

Following are excerpts from an interview with former President of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) and currently Managing Director Aitken Spence Travels Ltd. Gehan Perera Q: The private sector, line ministries and the regulatory bodies involved in tourism agree that the time is right for a long-term strategic plan for Sri ...

Business Monitor International (BMI) believes the outlook is still bright for Sri Lanka tourism and forecast a 55% rise in tourist arrivals to 1.42 million tourists over BMIs newly extended forecast period to 2016. The BMI, a London-based company, publishes specialist business information on global

Following is the address delivered by The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Anura Lokuhetty at the National Conference on ‘The Role of the Business Community in Reconciliation’ organised by Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS):   Ladies and gentlemen, throughout the history of mankind, humankind has searched for ...

Signifying another milestone of the Post-War development in Sri Lanka, the Jaffna International Trade Fair 2012 has been declared open yesterday by Douglas Devananda, the Minister of Traditional Industries & Small Enterprise Development. The Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF), which is focused on marketing the opportunities in the virgin market of Jaffna peninsula to private ...

How the key industry progressed last yearBy Cheranka Mendis Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, which saw a 30.8% growth over the previous year in 2011, has been driven by key markets India, UK and Germany and is likely to be the foremost contributor in 2012 as well. Named as ‘Visit Sri Lanka year,’ 2011 saw the ...

The new visa processing system implemented from January 1 this year has found that there were a ‘considerable’ number of visitors obtaining on-arrival visas. Immigration Controller Chulananda Perera told the Sunday Times that it had been observed that a considerable number of applicants preferred to obtain on-arrival visas. In this respect, there are currently three counters provided a...

Ends 2011 with record 855,975 arrivalsBy Cheranka Mendis The high-flying tourism industry closed the year with a record 855,975 arrivals, marking a rise of 100,000 from the original target for the year. Statistics revealed by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) yesterday noted

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 ...

Reuters: South Africa’s Sun City resort will invest $ 800 million in a tourism project in Sri Lanka, the Gead of the State-run Tourism Board said on Friday. Sun City resort is run by South African gaming and hotels group Sun International Ltd. It will be the largest ever investment in the country’s leisure sector, ...

COLOMBO (Reuters) - South Africa's Sun City resort will invest $800 million in a tourism project in Sri Lanka, the head of the island nation's state-run Tourism Board said on Friday. Sun City resort is run by South African gaming and hotels group Sun International Ltd. It will be the largest ever investment in the country's leisure sector, which is booming since the end of a 25-year war in May ...

SriLankan Airlines spreads its wings to the Swiss city of Zurich today, the latest destination in the continuous expansion of its global route network. Zurich would be the 58th destination in SriLankan’s global route network which would then span 33 countries. The airline has in the past 11 months launched services to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kochi ...

Achieving another remarkable milestone in the country’s booming tourism industry, Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed the arrival of the record 800,000th tourist in 2011 at the Bandaranaike International Airport last evening. Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa and Managing Director Rumy

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed a Record of Discussion (R/D) with the concerned authorities of the Central Cultural Fund (CCF) of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage (MCANH) and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) of the Ministry of Tourism (MoT

(Srilankamirror) - Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed the arrival of the 800,000th tourist in the year 2011 at the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake today (Dec. 19). This is the first time ever the tourism industry has received number of arrivals exceeding 800,000

Achieving another remarkable milestone in the country’s booming tourism industry, Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed the arrival of 800,000th tourist in year 2011 at the Bandaranaike International Airport today (19th Dec.) evening, Sri Lanka tourism said in a press statement. This is the first time

Achieving another remarkable milestone in the country’s booming tourism industry, Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed the arrival of 800,000th tourist in year 2011 at the Bandaranaike International Airport today (19th Dec.) evening. This is the first time ever; the tourism industry has received

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, one of the world’s largest logistics providers, became an integral part of the South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum 2011. The prestigious forum where global and local apparel heavyweights gathered to discuss the future of Sri Lanka’s apparel industry was organised as a part of SL design festival. Hellmann, an international logistics giant ...

A 15-month long US$ 2.4 million worth Sri Lankan tourism promotion campaign funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was kicked off in Tokyo last week. The Ministry of Economic Development, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Tokyo and the Nihon Keizai

International Consultants Chairman Ranjiv Goonawardena had kindly invited the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau to participate by showcasing the great opportunity that Sri Lanka has to offer, at the Islamic Real Estate Finance (IREF) Summit and Gala Dinner Awards Ceremony of which it was a sponsor

Winner of Miss Sri Lanka 2011 Pageant Pushpika Sandamali De Silva from Polonnaruwa who went on to represent the country at the Miss World pageant held in London earlier this year will now be participating in Miss Tourism Queen International 2011 which is scheduled to be held in Xi’an, China on 27 December 2011. 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 ...

Eco-labels get special platform at SLDF 2011 Apparel showSri Lanka’s apparel industry has long been established as a visionary garment maker, through its responsible practices and campaigns like ‘Garments without Guilt’. A key point stressed at the recently concluded ‘South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum’ that affects the future of this influential industry, is the co...

Corporate athletism programme to be launched to the private sector Each year globally the top four business professionals in a country who practice the values of Rotary, gets selected for a Group study exchange programmes(GSE) to different parts of the world by Rotary International. Some of the countries that Sri Lanka have partnered are Brazil, ...

Achieving another remarkable milestone in the country’s booming tourism industry, Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed the arrival of 750,000th tourist in year 2011 at the Bandaranaike International Airport today (24th Nov.) evening.

Achieving yet another remarkable milestone in the country’s booming tourism industry, Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed the arrival of the 750,000th tourist in 2011 at the Bandaranaike International Airport yesterday. This is the first-ever time that the tourism industry has received arrivals

Institute of Hospitality – Sri Lanka Chapter, the association working towards professional development and networking amongst hospitality professionals, has organised the Chairman’s Annual Black Tie Dinner on 29 November 2011 at the Oak Room of Cinnamon Grand Hotel Colombo. This is an annual event in the hospitality events calendar of Sri Lanka and the only ...