Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa was an invitee panellist at the prestigious India Today Conclave 2012 held in New Delhi from 16-17 March 2012. The India Today Conclave, which is held annually, has seen the participation of leading Indian and international personalities such as Shah Rukh Khan, Mohamed El Baradei, Sarah Palin, Dominique De Villepin, Union Minister ...

Outlines OZO Colombo plans to provide a 4-star product at a 3-star priceQ: As a veteran and experienced hotelier as well as a prominent personality in the tourism sector, what are your thoughts on the hotel industry in Sri Lanka and what needs to be done? A: These are exciting times with great opportunities for ...

Ajantha Perera takes the position of Director of Sales and Marketing at Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo of the John Keells Hotels Group. Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo is currently ranked the Best Five Star City Hotel by Sri Lanka Tourism. Perera joins the hotel with a wealth of experience spanning approximately fifteen years in the hospitality industry. His ...

Rs. 185 million BOT project provides eco-friendly waste water treatment infrastructure for National Holiday Resort on east coastPlans to revive tourism in the picturesque Passikudah bay on Sri Lanka’s east coast reached a milestone on 6 March, with the commissioning of a hi-tech central sewage and waste water treatment plant for the proposed National Holiday ...

Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa addressed the members of The Council for Business with Britain (CBB) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce recently. He highlighted the vision of President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the tourism industry, the world’s largest service industry. The presentation was titled ‘Towards 2.5 million visitors by 2016 – Where are ...

The NDB Group’s profit after tax for the year was Rs. 2.94 billion, an impressive growth of 35% over the previous year. The profit attributable to shareholders for the year was 2.70 billion and compares with Rs. 2.1 billion for 2010, a growth of 29%. This significant increase in group profits was attributable to the ...

In the latest UNWTO report, it is stated that tourism has become one of the world’s largest foreign exchange earners with the industry catapulting to US$ 900 billion and visitor numbers crossing 980 million visitors globally.The growth has been ignited with the launch of e-commerce where a holiday can be booked and paid for from ...

Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo said this week it will now on host special events at 8° On The Lake, providing discerning diners the opportunity to enjoy the hotel’s newest experience. The floating venue was officially opened on 19 December 2011 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.   During its first stage of operations, 8° On The Lake functioned ...

Safety and food hygiene of Colombo eating houses quite poor, says CMC’s Chief Medical Officer By Cheranka Mendis Even though Colombo has over 750 eating houses (from five-star hotels to roadside ‘bath kades’), only 290 obtained trade licenses last year, CMC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said. Speaking at the Indexpo food and management ...

For over 120 years the name Mercedes-Benz has guaranteed trucks of highest quality. In the European and Latin American markets Mercedes-Benz Trucks today is still synonymous with reliability and economy, first-rate quality in product and service as well as global competency in customer-focused transport solutions. This applies to the Actros, Axor and Atego truck lines ...

McQuire Rens & Jones (Pvt) Ltd. together with Hotel Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo yet again organised one of their flagship events, ‘The Breakfast Meeting’. This is the fourth in the series where such breakfast meetings are held every other month for chairmen, managing directors and CEOs. Attendance at these events is by invitation. The past breakfast ...

Switch-Asia ‘Greening Sri Lanka Hotels’ project makes progressBy Cheranka Mendis Sri Lanka Tourism will soon introduce a ‘Green Accreditation Scheme’ for hotels which would classify hotels under its green initiatives, Switch Asia Project Director Srilal Miththapala said. The scheme would classify hotels under their eco sustainable activities and would be awarded on a similar line ...

Laugfs Leisure Ltd., a fully own subsidiary of the Laugfs Gas Plc in its strive to become  one of the dominant  players in the hospitality industry has acquired Mag Consultants and Agents Pvt Ltd., (MCAPL) and its assets, comprising 1 5 acres of prime sea front beach property at Waskaduwa Kalutara with an investment of ...

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 ...

The Daily FT spoke to the Immediate Past President of Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) and Chairman and Managing Director of Conniassance de Ceylan Ltd., on the state of post-war Sri Lanka tourism industry, the progress and key challenges as well as future prospects and how best they could be harnessed. Here ...

Blue chip conglomerate Aitken Spence PLC has reported its interim results to the Colombo Stock Exchange on Monday, showing Rs. 3.02 billion as pre-tax profit and Rs. 1.95 billion as profit attributable to shareholders for the nine months ended 31 December 2011; an increase of 24% and 20% respectively over the previous year. For the ...

Preliminary results released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) show a collective increase of 6% year-on-year for international arrivals into Asia/Pacific1 destinations during each of the months of October and November 2011. For the first 11 months of the year, South Asia was the star growth performer, followed by Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and ...

Hot on the heels of the opening of Citrus Hikkaduwa, a 93-room luxury resort, Citrus Leisure Plc yesterday laid the foundation stone for Citrus Waskaduwa, a 150-room 5-star luxury resort that is expected to be opened towards the end of 2012. The foundation stone was ceremonially laid by Deputy Minister of Economic Development Lakshman Yapa ...

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 ...

Effects first major move to become a self-made entrepreneur; his new venture N Capital acquires 70% stake Aspires to make iconic 35-room resort luxurious with Rs. 500 m investment to add 50 more rooms under a new wing and plush refurbishment Says deep south will be centre of economic, tourism and recreation boom with air ...

By Cheranka Mendis Construction work for the 350 metre iconic Lotus Tower commenced yesterday following the foundation laying ceremony at the auspicious time of 10:28 a.m. The tower, which will be the tallest tower in South Asia, is located down D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha, overlooking the Beira Lake and is budgeted at an estimated cost of ...

Its blow is a slender vertical column of spray rising to 30 feet in height, comparable to a three storey building, its heart the size of a small car. Weighing in at over 100 tons with its body spanning over 30m in length, the Blue Whale is the largest creature to have ever lived. Seeing ...

LAUGFS Leisure Limited a fully owned subsidiary of LAUGFS Gas PLC announced yesterday the appointment of veteran hotelier Sirilal Miththapala to its Board of Directors. Miththapala joins LAUGFS Leisure Board at a time the company is taking serious initiatives to be a leading player in the hospitality industry in Sri Lanka. LAUGFS Leisureis currently involved ...

On 19 January 2012 at the Galle Heritage Villa by Jetwing, history will be made – Sri Lanka’s first guidebook to responsible tourism will be launched amidst the backdrop of the prestigious HSBC Galle Literary Festival. Titled ‘Paradise Exorcised,’ compiled and written by the renowned Juliet Coombe, the book seeks to educate the traveller on ...

Club Hotel Dolphin, managed by Serendib Leisure Management and a subsidiary of Hemas Holdings Plc, brought honour to Sri Lanka by winning the ITS Red Star Award for the third consecutive year under the ITS programme managed by the REWE Group, Germany, recently. The ITS brand has the largest hotel selection amongst the tour operators ...

“Our sense is that if we do not act boldly and if we do not act together, the economy around the world runs the risk of a downward spiral of uncertainty, financial instability and potential collapse of global demand… we could run the risk of what some commentators are already calling the lost decade” – ...

Following are excerpts of an interview with Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) Secretary T.M.F. Packeer, who is also Managing Director and CEO of Asian Exotica Ltd. Q: Sri Lanka Tourism has a very clear future standing as articulated by the President, of 2.5 million visitors by 2016. Is this expectation realistic? A: ...

LOLC Leisure buys popular Dickwella Resort for Rs. 1 b LOLC Leisure yesterday announced the strategic acquisition of Dickwella Resort in the deep south of Sri Lanka, thereby expanding its formidable presence in the country’s hospitality industry. Located at the southern-most tip of Sri Lanka, Dickwella Resort is universally acknowledged as having the most stunning ...

A survey conducted last week on the health of the Sri Lankan economy revealed that almost 64% said that the Government had done its task but only 43% had said that there had been growth in the economy. Whilst some can say that this data is strange, a similar set of information was shared at ...

President Eisenhower raised the alarm in 1961; its relevance today‘But most shall he sing of Lanka In the brave new days to come, When the races all have blended And the voice of strife is dumb, When we leap to a single bugle, March to a single drum.’ From ‘The Call of Lanka’, by the ...