Category: Tourism

Mar 06, 2010 (LBO) – Over half-a-million tourists are expected to visit Sri Lanka this year as the travel trade bounces back strongly from the effects of a war with hotels so heavily booked that some are even refusing new reservations till end of March, officials said. Tourism authorities have planned an aggressive global promotion […]

Mar 05, 2010 (LBO) – Two British travel writers have published a guide book on tourist attractions in Sri Lanka’s former war zone in the north and east, now accessible to the visitors after 30 years of conflict. Juliet Coombe, a photojournalist for the BBC Lonely Planet guide book, and her co-writer Daisy Perry spent […]

NEW DELHI, February 24, 2010 (AFP) – India’s rail minister announced Wednesday plans for high-speed trains for Asia’s largest rail network as she kept fares unchanged — underscoring the government’s focus on “inclusive growth”. Indian Railways boasts a network of 109,000 kilometers (67,730 miles) that transports some 18.5 million people daily on 14,000 passenger and […]

Feb 19, 2010 9LBO) Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings said it plans a rights issue to raise funds for future expansion as the island’s tourist industry recovers from the effects of a long war. The company said in a stock exchange filing that it plans to make a rights issue of one new ordinary […]

Feb 13, 2010 (AFP) – In 70 years of greeting guests to Sri Lanka’s venerable Galle Face Hotel, doorman K. Chattu Kuttan has hobnobbed with everyone from royal heads of state to Bond girls and Soviet cosmonauts. In recent years, Kuttan has embraced his role as a living Galle Face institution. His distinctive neat white […]

Feb 12, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s John Keells Hotels said net profit for the December quarter shot up 471 percent to 83 million rupees from a year ago as tourism recovered from the effects of recession and a war. Revenue rose seven percent to 1.6 billion rupees, the company, part of the John Keells […]

Feb 12, 2010 (LBO) – The number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka rose sharply in January with a recovery in traditional Western European markets and more visitors from newer south Asian markets after the end of the war. Latest data from the government tourism authority showed arrivals rose 31.9 percent to 50,757 in January 2010, […]

Feb 11, 2010 (LBO) – Russian investors are keen to invest in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, which is recovering after the end of a 30-year war, a senior official said. Export Development and International Trade Minister Gamini Peiris said Sri Lanka gets a large number of Russian tourists and that Russian companies were keen to […]

Feb 03, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings made a December quarter net profit of 210 million rupees with total revenues up 20 percent to 1.98 billion rupees from a year ago. According to accounts filed with the stock exchange, the net profit in the quarter, although nominally down 41 percent from […]

Feb 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourism minister has appointed a new chairman, Eranga Basnayake, to the tourism development authority, an official said. In another development reports said Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission director general Priyantha Kariyapperum has resigned. Ministry secretary George Micheal said the new appointment was made by tourism minister Achala Jagoda. […]

Jan 28, 2010 (LBO) – Inside a 17th century Dutch Fort in Sri Lanka’s southern port city of Galle, celebrated writers will talk about their work, debate their ideas and share a drink with all who pass through. Attending the festival will be Ian Rankin and his popular fictional detective John Rebus, who, together, are […]

Jan 25, 2010 (LBO) – A refurbished troop transport is being hired out as a conference and wedding venue by the Sri Lanka Navy in a joint move with the island’s tourist promotion agency, officials said. The ship is being marketed as a venue for weddings, conference and corporate events. The ship can be booked […]