Category: Tourism

Sep 06, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourism industry intends to ramp up training to meet a critical and growing skills gap amid a tourism boom after the end of the island’s ethnic war, officials said. “As the annual output of about 1,500 graduates is the industry requirement, incentives will be provided to promote skills […]

Sep 06, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka aims to make tourism a key component of post-war economic growth with a new strategy aimed at luring more high-spenders and increasing earnings and employment, an official said. Nalaka Godahewa, chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism, said the government was also working to make it easier for the private […]

Sep 01, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hayleys conglomerate has spent 2. 6 billion rupees to buy a 51 percent stake in hotel firm Amaya Leisure owned by Hayleys deputy chairman Dhammika Perera, a stock exchange filing said. The transactions of 24,497,461 Amaya Leisure shares were done in five crossings or off-market private deals by […]

Sep 01, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings (JKH) group plans to build a 25 storey, 240-room business hotel in Colombo with an investment of 2. 90 billion rupees in a joint venture with Sanken Lanka. JKH aims to have up to 1,000 business hotel rooms to cater to growing numbers of business […]

Aug 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka could attract 750,000 tourists from India over the next decade, or six fold if Sri Lanka can capture just 2. 4 percent of that country’s outbound market, an equities research report said. Even if Sri Lanka maintains its current market share of 1. 4 percent, the island could […]

Aug 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Browns Investments plans to build boutique hotels on two tea estates in the island’s central hills as it diversifies into the rapidly growing tourism industry. The island’s tourism industry has been growing rapidly with a sharp increase in arrivals after the end of the 30-year ethnic war in […]

Aug 26, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s HVA group, a branded tea exporter, is building a 200 million rupee ‘forest garden’ resort with eco-friendly chalets near a national park in the island’s northwest, an official said. The resort, with 15 eco-friendly chalets powered by solar panels will be built on 50 acres of privately owned […]

Aug 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka tourism sector would promote and showcase its wildlife assets in September to attract nature loving tourists with the largest gathering of Asian elephants also taking place during the month. Sri Lanka is only 140 miles across. These include the elephant, sloth bear, leopard and several species of whales […]

Aug 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Colombo Hilton hotel has filed its first accounts in about 20 years, revealing a loss of 1. 2 billion rupees in 2010 and accumulated losses of 10.3 billion rupees and auditors expressing a qualified opinion. Hotel Developers (Lanka) which owns Hilton Colombo Hotel said the loss in the […]

Aug 21, 2011 (LBO) – Adventurous travelers from Australia to Austria have set off on a three-wheeler drive from Sri Lanka’s international airport to the far corners of he country, braving unknown challenges. Travelling on a ‘tuk tuk’ or a trishaw, as the popular three-wheeled taxis are known in Sri Lanka, is an adventure even […]

Aug 20, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s listed Asia Capital, which has interests in financial services, leisure, will invest 700 million rupees in hotels and plans to take two operating units public in the next two years, an official said. Asia Capital got 3.3 billion rupees after selling out of Asian Alliance Insurance. “We sold […]

Aug 11, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals rose 32 percent to 63,339 in July 2011 with visitors in the first seven months rising 36 percent to 465,324 data from the tourist promotions office showed. Pakistani arrivals surged 130 percent to 2,040 and visitors from the Maldives rose 38 percent to 3,336. Western European […]