Category: Tourism

July 06, 2011 (LBO) – A new ferry service between India and Sri Lanka offers a cheaper alternative to airlines for tourists, traders and pilgrims and even the ability to drive across, the head of the company running the service said. “Our aim was to keep the price much less than that of airlines which […]

July 5, 2011 (LBO) – Hong Kong based Shangri La group’s two hotels in Sri Lanka which are now in the final design stage will cost as much 630 million US dollars to build, chief financial officer Madhu Rao said. The group bought a six acre block of state land in Colombo’s ‘Galle Face’ beach […]

July 5, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has lifted travel curbs on foreigners to the north of the island where a 30-year war ended in 2009, and foreign passport holders could travel without special approval, the government’s information office said. The government’s information office said foreign passport holders would no longer require documents of approval […]

July 04, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to convert a colonial-era fort in the north that was also fought over during the recent ethnic war into a tourist attraction, the economic development ministry said in a statement. “Since the end of the war large numbers of local and foreign tourists flock to Jaffna daily. […]

July 3, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s diplomats will promote the country abroad in the future and the state tourism promotion office will gradually sever links with private public relations firms, deputy economic development minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene said. “The government has decided do slowly distance ourselves from private public relations firms,” Abeywardene told reporters. […]

June 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is searching for a buyer for a block of prime beach front land adjacent to two that are slated to be among the largest real-estate cum hotel developments to start in the country after the end of a 30-year war, officials said. “The land is still available,” deputy […]

June 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will permit eco-friendly hotels in buffer zones adjacent to nature reserves to cater to increased local and international interest in the island’s wildlife assets, a government minister said. Abeywardene said investors were also keen to protect nature now. “Investors now do not want to damage the environment,” he […]

June 29, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may cancel deals of four investors who were given state land to build hotels in Pasikudah in the Eastern coast of the island, deputy economic development minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene said. He said four parties who got land had not used the land so far. “If they do […]

June 27, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Jetwing Leisure group plans a raise 5. 0 billion rupees for expansion through a private placement and an initial public offer, as tourist arrival rise after a war, officials and reports said. It also runs Vil Uyana in Sigiriya and Hunas Falls in off Kandy in the central […]

June 26, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is planning a crocodile park in Muturajawela in the Gampaha district with errant crocodiles in the Gampaha district which will be developed as a tourist attraction, a media report said. The park will be populated with captured crocodiles that are now posing a threat to villages in the […]

June 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s privately held Jetwing leisure group, is planning new project in the central and war-torn eastern areas of the island that will add 500 rooms over the next two years catering to a post-war boom, officials said. “We are looking at 50 rooms in the first phase and another […]

June 18, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence group, which runs resorts in Maldives, India and Oman is in talks with two international chains to find a joint venture partner to build a 100 million dollar leisure complex in the island’s east coast, an official said. The complex will be made up of two […]