Category: Tourism

Aug 03, 2011 (LBO) – State-run Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management (SLITHM) has increased its intake and is also franchising its courses to private institutions to cater to an expanding industry after the end of a 30-year war, an official said. The hotel school runs a four year hotel management program and […]

Aug 02, 2011 (LBO) – Canada based Four Seasons leisure group has proposed building a 400-room resort on an islet off Kalpitiya in Sri Lanka’s north western coast, deputy economic development minister Lakshman Abeywardene said. A team from Four Seasons had visited the site on July 27. The islands owned by the state are offered […]

July 29, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Finco group, which has interests in construction, export manufacturing and real estate is building two resorts in the island’s eastern coast investing nearly 16 million US dollars to expand its leisure arm, an official said. Finco, a privately held business group listed an export apparel making unit, Orient […]

July 28, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Walkers Tours, a tour operator of the John Keells Holdings group said it had added a fleet of sports utility vehicles which will allow tourists to explore remote attractions. “[T]he ultimate objective of this scheme is to benchmark our service levels against the best in the region,” JKH […]

July 28, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has formally approved a five year strategy to develop the tourism sector including domestic tourism as arrivals go up after a 30-year war, the government’s information office said. The cabinet of ministers had approved the plan submitted by the ministry of economic development, headed by minister Basil Rajapaksa. […]

July 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has earned 370. 1 million US dollars in revenues in the first half of 2011, up 50.9 percent from a year earlier, amid a strong increase in arrivals, official data showed. Foreign visitors have been flocking to the country since the end of a 30-year war […]

July 24, 2011 (LBO) – A Chinese firm which will invest 355 million US dollars in a hotel and shopping complex in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo will help draw more tourists from the fast growing Asian giant, a government minister said. A Chinese defence contractor China Aviation Technology Import-Export Corporation (CATIC) is being sold seven […]

July 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Hotels has reopened its oldest hotel after refurbishment, converting it into an ayurveda health resort with solar power panels and plans for a biogas plan using kitchen waste. The 64-room beach front Neptune Hotel on the southern coast has been renamed Heritance Ayurveda Maha Gedara, a […]

July 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to start an international call centre which will provide assistance and information to tourists, chairman of the country’s tourism development authority Nalaka Godahewa said. “We will call for proposals from local firms in two to three weeks,” Godahewa said. “We hope to receive innovative solutions. “A call […]

July 21, 2011 (LBO) – Canada-based Four Seasons leisure group is in discussions to set up a resort in Sri Lanka following the end of a 30-year, deputy economic development minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene said. It is also building a resort in Hambantota in the South of the island. Abeywardene said the group was interested […]

July 13, 2011 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 19.9 percent in June to 53,636 with the Middle East and Asia driving growth and Western Europe flattening, data from the tourism promotion office showed. Visitors from South Asia rose 22.1 percent to 18,431 with India rising 12,927 and Maldives rising 12. 8 percent […]

July 7, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will build a new ‘tourist city’ in the Western coastal city of Katana north of the capital Colombo, which may draw 1.5 billion US dollars in foreign investments in its first phase alone, a government minister said. Sri Lanka’s tourism development authority has also offered a series of […]