Category: Tourism

July 11, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s hotels are overcharging for rooms in an attempt to cash in on growing visitor numbers after a decades-long war, a minister said Thursday.Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said some hotels had hiked up room rates 10-fold since the end of the war in 2009 without improving service. […]

July 08, 2013 (LBO) – A private equity raisin for four greenfield hotels is underway with local investors and a foreign investor coming on board, but the matching investor needs with a new project has been challenging, an official said.“While the equity investor is looking at us, we are also looking at them,” Jetwing chief […]

July 06, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s gaming industry could generate 900 million US dollars a year with only two 500-room integrated resorts, upping rates of city hotels, but more support facilities are needed, a research report has said.A game changing 900,000 tourists could be added within four years to Sri Lanka’s current tourist arrivals […]

June 20, 2013 (LBO) – About 23 percent of domestic holidaymakers in Sri Lanka are booking hotels online and up to 85 percent were considering internet booking for their next holiday, according to survey on travel planning.BQu Services, an online marketing and research firm that conducted the survey said 85 percent of holidaymakers said they […]

June 20, 2013 (LBO) – EoN Resorts (Pvt) Ltd, a Maldives-based resorts developer has applied to build a 170 million US dollar luxury hotel in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, the state information office said. It will also have a 150,000 square feet shopping mall and a 2000 square feet food court. The cabinet of ministers […]

June 17, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals rose 21 percent to 70,026 in May 2013 from a year earlier, with a recovery in the Indian market and Western Europe growing strongly, official data shows.South Asia rose 14.4 percent to 23,819. India, Sri Lanka’s largest generating market rose 8.5 percent to 17,233 and Maldives […]

June 12, 2013 (LBO) – Investment approval for Australian magnate James Packer’s Crown group for a joint venture mixed development in Sri Lanka is being finalized and details will be presented parliament soon, investment minister Lakshman Abeywardena said.If the promoters wish to shift a casino to the project he said that was between the partners […]

June 11, 2013 (LBO) – Applicants from Sri Lanka who had recently travelled to some North American, European and Pacific countries could apply for a fast track visa, the UK High Commission (embassy) in Colombo said. From June 24, Sri Lankans who had travelled “without difficulty” to the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand or […]

June 6, 2013 (LBO) – Cinnamon Lakeside, a unit of Sri Lanka’s John Keells group said it saw more ’emerging market’ guests in the past year, while facing competition from luxury apartments. The company said in the past year occupancy had risen to a average of 60 percent from 55 percent and room rates had […]

Jun 05, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s transport infrastructure is being built but the country is badly in need of destination marketing, a top leisure groups have said as higher end hotel saw lower occupancy.In December 2012, occupancy at Sri Lanka’s 5-star rated hotels dropped to 81.9 percent from 95.7 percent and at 4-star hotels […]

June 05, 2013 (LBO) – Cantaloupe Aqua, a private resort in Thalpe, in Sri Lanka’s Southern coast said it had been recognized by Trip Advisor, a travel review site and Agoda.com, an online booking system for two years running based on user responses. The resort had received a ‘gold circle’ award from Agoda.com and a […]

June 5, 2013 (LBO) – A luxury hotel with Australian casino magnate James Packer’s Crown group targeting Indian and Chinese high rollers may need an investment of up to 400 million US dollars, its Sri Lanka partner said. He said the hotel will have a shopping mall and restaurants with specialist chefs. Wijeratne’s Rank Entertainment […]