Category: Tourism

June 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Confifi Hotel Holdings which was taken over by Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) from former owners the Furkhan family, has appointed a new director board from Wednesday, a stock exchange filing said. LOLC now owns 52 percent of Confifi Hotel Holdings and 25.5 percent of Riverina Hotels. Ishara […]

June 07, 2010 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 42.3 percent to 35,213 in May 2010 from a year earlier with strong growth in South Asian and Western European markets, data from the island’s tourism office showed. Sri Lanka has seen a revival in tourism after a 30-year war ended on May 18, […]

May 27, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Thursday welcomed the lifting of a US warning against travel to the Indian Ocean island, anticipating a boost to tourism and investment a year after a bloody civil war ended. The number of holidaymakers arriving in the four months to April this year rose nearly 50 percent […]

May 26, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Confifi group hotels shares rose 46 percent to 318 rupees Wednesday with buyers expecting a battle for management control after Lanka Orix Leasing Company bought into the group. LOLC bought a 43.3 percent stake in Confifi Hotel Holdings, which in additional to owning a hotel also owns 21.8 […]

May 25, 2010 (LBO) – Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) has bought into a hotel group through a 70 percent joint venture it has with another firm, Browns Investments, in two deals valued at over 900 million rupees. LOLC had bought 3.1 million shares or 43.3 percent in Confifi Hotel Holdings at 210 rupees in […]

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25, 2010 (AFP) – Malaysia will relax visa rules for travellers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in an effort to boost tourism, an official said Tuesday. Malaysia recorded 7.62 million tourist arrivals between January and April this year, up from 7. 34 million in the same period last year. At […]

KILINOCHCHI, May 19, 2010 (AFP) – The wreckage left by a brutal war has created a new tourist trail in Sri Lanka just a year after the Tamil Tiger rebels were crushed by government forces. “I make about 500 rupees (four dollars) a day,” says Kilinochchi native N. Seelan, who sells palmyrah-based sweets to tourists. […]

May 10, 2010 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 47.0 percent to 38,300 in April 2010 from a year earlier with strong growth in Western European and South Asian generating markets, data from the island’s tourism office showed. Visitors from South Asia were up 53 percent to 10,798. India generated 7,732 tourists, up […]

May 08, 2010 (LBO) – Bangkok-based Minor International is looking to buy or build beach resorts in Sri Lanka, after the island emerged from a 30-year war and prospects for tourism brightened, a media report said. Minor also operates hotels in Thailand under the Marriott and Four Seasons brands and runs Thai franchises for Burger […]

May 03, 2010 (LBO) – Habarana Lodge has signed a deal with the Board of Investment to invest 2. 5 million US dollars to re-furbish and upgrade its hotel in north-central Sri Lanka, the investment promotion agency said. The 140-room Cinnamon Lodge Hotel at Habarana, part of the John Keells group hotel chain, will be […]

Apr 23, 2010 (LBO) – Lighthouse Hotel, a unit of Sri Lanka’s Jetwing leisure group said profits rose 102 percent in the March quarter to 32.2 million rupees amid a pick up in tourism, interim accounts showed. Revenues rose 34 percent to 110. 3 million rupees in the quarter. Sri Lanka’s peak tourism season is […]

Apr 08, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s March 2010 tourist arrivals rose 53.7 percent to 52,352 from a year earlier with more visitors from Western Europe, Middle East and South Asia, tourist promotions office data showed. Arrivals from Western Europe was up 52.3 percent to 69,877, Middle East 106 percent to 7,352, South Asia 53.4 […]