Category: Tourism

July 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been included in an Asian Development Bank funded project to link and promote tourist sites in south Asian countries, especially for eco-tourism and pilgrimage tourism. A report by the ADB said the project was conceived as a linked series of sub-regional tourism investments in the five countries […]

July 14, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka expects more tourists this winter season with heightened interest in the destination after the war ended but hotel earnings are not likely to improve immediately, officials and analysts said.“We can’t definitely see a concrete increase in numbers right now but certainly there’s improved sentiment,” Tourist Hotels Association of […]

July 09, 2009 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals in to Sri Lanka rose in June 2009, just one month after the ethnic war ended and the first monthly growth in over a year, the tourism promotion office said. The number of visitors to the island went up 8.1 percent in June 2009 to 30,234 from a […]

July 9, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence group said it was upgrading the oldest hotel in its chain to its premium ‘Heritance’ brand which is built to reflect the history of an individual hotel as well as the country it is situated in. Neptune Hotel, which will be closed for refurbishment, was the […]

July 6, 2009, ARUGAM BAY (LBO) – Arugam Bay in eastern Sri Lanka is coming to life after the end of a 30-year war in Sri Lanka cleared the way for surfers from around the world to ride its waves again.Hotels in the area were packed to capacity this week when surfers flocked to the […]

July 3, 2009 (LBO) – Britain has eased a travel advisory to Sri Lanka’s east but has warned of rising ant-British rhetoric amid an upsurge of nationalism and possible detentions of people of ethnic Tamil origin.“This has led to violent protests against the British High Commission and other diplomatic premises.” Though Tamil Tigers have been […]

June 28, 2009 (LBO) – The United States has warned its citizens of continued risks of attacks by armed groups and the possibility of foreign nationals of Sri Lankan origin being detained without their embassy being notified.The State Department warned American citizens of a “potential for continued instability, including possible terrorist attacks,” though there were […]

June 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is drafting new rules to protect the marine environment with tourist ventures such as whale and dolphin watching expected to become big business with the end of the war, a senior official said.Michael noted how unregulated tourism had spoilt some of the island’s best beaches such as in […]

June 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has launched an initiative to provide better access and facilities at tourist attractions in an effort to draw more visitors to the island, beginning to recover from 25 years of war. Tourism ministry secretary K A D George Michael said the government had allocated funds to improve basic […]

June 09, 2009 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals in to Sri Lanka slumped 20.6 percent in May 2009 to 24,739 from a year ago as a global travel slowdown and fierce fighting that ended the Tamil Tiger insurgency deterred visitors. According to figures put out by Sri Lanka’s tourism office, arrivals from south Asia, the main […]

June 04, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government said it had approved a proposal by an Indian company to set up a four-star hotel and convention centre with an investment of 25 million US dollars.Media minister Anura Yapa said the unsolicited proposal had been received from Suchirindia Hotel and Resorts in Hyderabad, India. The […]

May 22, 2009 (LBO) – The number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka in April 2009 slid 12.4 percent to 26,054 from a year ago, with sharp falls from key markets in Europe and India, the island’s tourism promotion office said. Maldivian arrivals dipped marginally by 2.7 percent to 9,160, while Pakistani arrivals almost halved to […]