Category: Tourism

Mar 29, HANOI (LBO) – With a firm foothold in Vietnam, Sri Lanka’s Jetwing leisure group is looking to expand further into fast growing tourism markets in Laos and Cambodia, an official said. Jetwing Indochina Company, a joint venture with a local group which already has leisure interests including Vietnam’s Buffalo Tours, is building a […]

Mar 26, 2010 (LBO) – Once a lucrative foreign exchange provider to Sri Lanka, cruise tourism is seen as bringing back more well-heeled tourists to the island, just as it did before the ethnic war. Sri Lanka is expecting an estimated 21,000 cruise passengers this year with 30 liners having confirm calls, travel trade officials […]

Mar 25, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is building more convention centres amid fears of a shortage of accommodation following a flood of tourists with the end of its war and temporary closure of a big conference hall. Tourist industry officials said they are promoting MICE tourism, as travel abroad for Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and […]

March 25, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka lost a “priceless” promotional opportunity by banning the US star Akon from performing at a concert in Colombo following protests from Buddhist monks, the tourism minister said Thursday. The rapper’s concert on April 24 was blocked after monks complained about his “Sexy Bitch” music video featuring women in […]

Mar 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings has acquired 100 percent of Ramada Resorts, a beach resort formerly known as Golden Sun Resorts, for 350 million rupees, a stock exchange filing said. The filing said the shareholders of Golden Sun Resort in Kalutara on the west coast had given the nod […]

Mar 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka state-run Employees Provident Fund of private citizens had bought a 10 percent stake in Lighthouse Hotel, a unit of the Jetwing leisure group, a stock exchange filing said. NDB stockbrokers said the EPF, the country’s largest retirement fund, had bought 4. 6 million shares of Lighthouse. The hotel […]

March 17, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s hotel owners are racing to refurbish and add thousands more rooms as foreign holidaymakers pour into the country after the end of nearly four decades of ethnic bloodshed. Leading hotel groups plan to spend millions of dollars on new decor and facilities for the influx of tourists drawn […]

Mar 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings said the largest chunk of 2.5 billion rupees it plans to raise through a rights issue will go for new hotels in the island’s former war zone. It also plans to build a hotel in the northern Jaffna region. The firm said about a […]

Mar 15, 2010 (LBO) – Some of the world’s top surfers will take part in a Japanese surfing championship that returns to Sri Lanka this month after a five-year break following the end of the island’s ethnic war. The Japan Pro Surfing Association’s (JPSA) annual competition will be held during March 19-23 at Hikkaduwa, a […]

Mar 12, 2010 (LBO) – Large parcels of Hotel Services (Ceylon), owners of Hotel Ceylon Continental, changed hands in early trade on the Colombo bourse Friday amid speculation its owner businessman Nahil Wijesuriya was selling out. The trades pushed turnover on the bourse to over two billion rupees by mid-morning, brokers said. The indices also […]

Mar 12, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Hayleys group said it bought a 51 percent stake in Ceylon Continental Hotel Friday for 1. 8 billion rupees. Hayleys said in a stock exchange filing that under stock market rules it has to make a mandatory offer to other shareholders of Hotel Services. Updated The stake was […]

Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – An under water scooter rental firm is starting up in a tourist area north of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, to feed an upturn in the industry following the end of a 30-year war, the island’s investment promotion agency said. Mountcastle Marine recreational sports complex will be in Arachchikattuwa in Sri […]