Category: Tourism

Oct 12, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourism future lies in focusing on niche products and not in the mass market, given its small size and excess capacity in competing destinations, industry officials said. The country’s target of attracting 2. 5 million visitors and adding 25,000 rooms by 2016 might not be achievable nor desirable, […]

Oct 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Jetwing group plans to build a hotel in the northern Jaffna peninsula, part of the former war zone which is recovering after the end of the island’s ethnic war, an official said. Hiran Cooray, chairman of Jetwing, said the hotel was part of the group’s expansion plan to […]

Oct 08, 2010 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 24. 6 percent to 47,339 people in September 2010 from a year ago, driven by sharp increases from traditional European markets, tourism office data showed. The island’s peak tourism season coincides with the northern hemisphere winter. In the January-September 2010 period, tourist arrivals were […]

Oct 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourist industry is considering the possibility of importing labour, possibly from India, as a last resort to meet an anticipated shortage of workers given the sudden influx of visitors, an official said. “We will consider recruiting people from other countries, that will be our last option,” says Suranga […]

Sept 30, 2010 (LBO) – Six Senses Resorts & Spas is to set up their first property in Sri Lanka in a joint venture with Aitken Spence conglomerate and the Favourite Group, a statement said. The project, worth 35-40 million US dollars, will comprise a resort and spa and beach front residential villas on a […]

Sept 29, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s stock exchange has approved the issue of new shares and attached warrants by Hotel Reefcomber to raise cash to revamp the hotel, a statement said. Hotel Reefcomber, which owns the Amaya Reef hotel on the southwest coast, plans to consolidate 10 shares to one and then sell a […]

Sept 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Taj Airport Garden Hotel, a 130 room hotel will be expanded with 100 more rooms and rebranded under the group’s ‘The Gateway Hotel’ as part of a renewed marketing push, officials said. “The rebranding will take place from January 2010,” general manager Mathew Thomas said. “In two months […]

Sept 24, 2010 (LBO) – India’s Taj group is looking for opportunities in Sri Lanka’s war-torn eastern coast and a city hotel it controls will also need 30 to 35 million US dollars to be upgraded to fit the group’s new brand portfolio, officials said. India itself sends more tourists to Sri Lanka than any […]

Sept 20, 2010 (LBO) – Facilities for transit passengers in Sri Lanka’s international airport at Katunayake has been boosted with a 24-room hotel, which is under the management of state-run SriLankan airlines, the national carrier said. The airport has eight rooms with double beds, and eight rooms with a single deb and an attached bathroom. […]

Setp 13, 2010 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka was up 35.7 percent to 55,898 in August led by Indians and Britons, with visitors during the first eight months up 46.7 percent from a year earlier, tourism office data showed. In the first eight months Western Europe generated 162,500 visitors up 50.4 percent, South […]

Sept 09, 2010 (LBO) – Weekly charter flights are to be launched between Brussels and Sri Lanka bringing Belgian and other European tourists from October 31, Jean Deboutte, Ambassador of Belgium to Sri Lanka said. Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Belgium Ravinatha Aryasinha told the meeting the weekly charter flights will be by Jetair, a leading […]

Sept 06, 2010 (LBO) – Tourists arrivals to the Maldives, where two Sri Lankan conglomerates own or operate resorts, are recovering from recession but construction of more hotels is seen hitting room rates. China is the second highest tourism market to the archipelago so far this year with a 14.2 percent market share preceded only […]