Category: Tourism

Jan 21, 2010 (LBO) – The leisure unit of Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings group is making a 3. 6 billion rupee cash call to spruce up its hotels and build new ones as the country expects a surge of tourists after the end of a 30-year war. The company said it was issuing 364 […]

Jan 19, 2010 (LBO) – Louise Cruises, a Greece based line which started a service running out of India to Sri Lanka and Maldives was pulling out after suffering losses due to high cost of operating out of Indian ports, media report said. The company was laying of 200 or relocating 200 crew hired for […]

Jan 07, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s December tourist arrivals rose 16.2 percent to 56,862 from a year earlier as travel warnings were removed while annual visitors grew 2.1 percent to 447,890, tourist promotion office data showed. India retained its position as the top market for generating visitors last year, with the UK remaining in […]

Jan 03, 2009 (LBO) – Britain said it is no longer advising its citizens against travel to Sri Lanka’s East, but the north continued to be out of bounds though a 30-year war in the area ended last May. Britain’s foreign and commonwealth office (FCO) said it had removed an ‘all but essential travel’ tag […]

Dec 29, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority said the cruise ship ˜Discovery’ of the Voyages of Discovery cruise line called at Colombo port as part of a cruise tourism revival with the end of the island’s ethnic war. The cruise line is now owned by UK-based All Leisure Group which is also […]

Dec 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence Hotels group said it has struck a deal to run the new Ramada Hotel & Convention Centre in New Delhi scheduled to open in February or March next year. Aitken Spence Hotels said in a statement its latest foray into the Indian market is meant to […]

Dec 09, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan policy makers should follow the Maldivian example by opening a few dozen of the thousands inland lakes in the country to attract high end tourists willing to pay high premiums for ‘privacy’, a top architect said. “People are willing to pay 200 – 300 dollars on a holiday, […]

Dec 08, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has struck a deal with the world’s fifth largest cruise line to attract Indian tourists to the island by cruise ship, officials said. The Tourism Promotion Bureau said the cruise calls are expected to increase the number of Indian tourists visiting the island by 4,000 a month. Its […]

Dec 08, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tourist arrivals for November went up 20.1 percent to 44,311 from a year ago, boosted by more visitors from key markets like the United Kingdom, Germany and India, while arrivals from Eastern Europe dipped, tourism data showed. Cumulative arrivals, which had fallen steadily till May, were up 0.4 […]

Dec 03, 2009 (LBO) – Calls by cruise ships to Sri Lanka, which were greatly reduced during the height of the ethnic war, are picking up with the latest operator to launch visits to Sri Lanka being Louis Cruises India.The number of visitors to the island picked up immediately after the war ended in May […]

Dec 03, 2009 (LBO) – From abandoned tea factory to luxury resort, Aitken Spence will re-launch its successful tea factory hotel under its up-market brand ˜Heritance.’ Since its launch in 1996, the hotel which is situated on a hilltop overlooking Hethersett village, has gained a reputation for being an unusual holiday attraction. Visitors can experience […]

Nov 27, 2009 (LBO) – A photographic exhibition in Colombo makes a case for Sri Lanka eco-tourism, encouraging visitors to experience the island’s rich biodiversity, within a renewed climate of peace in the country. The exhibition is on at the Alliance Francaise in Colombo until December 15, 2009. From Little Egrets in Mannar, Spinner Dolphins […]