Category: Tourism

The government urban planning agency (UDA) is considering the full or part sale of over 40 Rest Houses under its ownership.The urban development authority says it is looking for proven hotel chain managers to take an equity stake and manage the rest houses.rn rnThe agency is keen to attract one or more top hotel chains […]

Asian Hotels will merge with fully owned subsidiary Crescat Developments (CDL) to take up recent tax relief offered to help under performing industries. The government in March offered the concessions for companies to merge with non-performing industries.rn rnThe merger will give the two firms an additional three year tax holiday and customs duty and exchange […]

The government has rolled out its first draft of a national eco-tourism policy, mapping out development guidelines for mushrooming, unregulated eco-tourism outfits. A Norwegian sponsored study begun early this year developed the blueprint for eco-tourism development, identifying also, five pilot projects in the Southern region.rn rnPublic debate has already begun, with the Tourism Ministry calling […]

A one percent levy on turnover will be charged on all Tourist Board licensed institutions, under the new Finance Bill, passed Thursday. The tax will cover about 1000 licensed institutions under the Tourist Board Development Act and will be enforceable from September this year.rn rnAn initial Rs. 7.5 mn is to be raised, Tourist Board […]

The Civil Aviation Department says it is talking to the Ministry of Defence and Airport authorities to issue the permits.rn rnCommercial helicopter services were banned in the late 1980s due the then intensifying civil war between the LTTE and government forces. rn rnSenior Civil Aviation Department officials say the five firms are looking to setup […]

The tourism market is expected to grow at 20% a year over the next five years according to stockbroker estimates. They also say that high spending tourists and business travel traffic is improving with positive effects on the industry.Analysts say the sector could expand if the current trends in politics and global tourism continue.rn rnDFCC […]

Surviving through two decades of fluctuating fortunes, tourism is now moving to giddier heights of the big spenders and a niche of expensive boutique hotels. With war fears somewhat allayed, analysts expect an annual 20 percent growth rate for tourism over the next five years if the ceasefire holds.rn rnIn the first year of the […]

Watching for a leopard is patient labour; Studying the elusive and protected wildcat is something else altogether. But prohibitive research costs has conservationists turning to guided tourism as a gold mine and a possible solution.Sri Lankas national parks like the one at Yala, are home to a distinct sub-species of leopard, Panthera pardus kotiya.rn rnldblquote […]

SriLankan Airlines is moving its website to a .aero internet domain from its present .lk internet address. .aero is a new Internet domain name (like .com, .net, .org) exclusively reserved for the aviation community, rn rnSriLankan will be among over 3000 names registered with the .aero suffix including, airlines, aviation industry news services, engineering and […]

The Deer Park Hotel will only be the first of a number of Banyan Tree Group getaways in Sri Lanka.Nihal Jinasena, Chairman of the Jinasena Group told LBO that the Banyan Tree officials had hinted their interest to develop more properties with the group in Sri Lanka.rn rnDeveloping a 1-kilometre beach stretch owned by Banyan […]

Meetings and conference travelers are thronging to Sri Lanka, overshooting expected targets to 18 percent of all tourist arrivals in 2003.ldblquote Already at mid year we are 60 percent over target and we expect that we can capture 18 percent of tourist arrivals this year. This is more than the 15 percent we projected for […]

Qatar Airways is eyeing the European tourist and up-end business and leisure travellers as it tries to play down its traditional focus on Sri Lankas Mid East labour market.ldblquote We want to increase our corporate traffic, widening our wings to fly to more European markets, targeting our corporate and leisure travellers dblquote , said new […]