Category: Tourism

February 8, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat in the fifth and final one-day international against India here on Sunday.Umpires: Brian Jerling (RSA) and Tyron Wijewardene (SRI) TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG) India, leading 4-0, made two changes from the side […]

Feb 05, 2009 (LBO) – A blond woman in China with an unusual history; airline passengers armed to the teeth, crowded into a rickety Russian plane in Afghanistan, are an unlikely combination to encounter on a single journey.Award winning British travel-writer and novelist Colin Thubron, – one of whose latest works is Shadow of the […]

Feb 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Galle Face Hotels Group plans to build a 100-room luxury resort hotel on an atoll in the Maldivian archipelago, a senior official said.The new hotel is sited on an uninhabited island which also has a domestic airport.and airport buildings. The new Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed, during his recent […]

Jan 26, 2009 (LBO) – Tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka last year fell sharply from its main markets of India and Britain whose currencies also depreciated significantly against the dollar. Tourist industry analysts said that the downturn in tourism could worsen this year because of the weaker currencies and economic slowdown in key visitor generating […]

Jan 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals fell 18.2 percent in November to 36,091 with key generating markets of Western Europe down 28.2 percent and South Asia down 12.6 percent, the tourist promotion office said. In the 11 months to November arrivals were down 10 percent to 389,550. November 2008, Western European arrivals […]

Dec 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is among five countries included in an Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded plan to promote south Asian regional tourism and simplify cross-border tourist movements.“Together with the investment project, the technical assistance will enhance the positioning of the sub-region in both intraregional and international markets as one of the […]

Dec 04, 2008 (LBO) – A series of strikes that hit Maldivian resorts, including several managed by Sri Lanka’s Aitken Spence group are ending, after the strikes were called off following presidential intervention, officials said.Maldives has a new coalition government, which was brought to power by pro-democracy activists. The strikes were partly triggered by a […]

December 3, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka operated special flights to a Thai military base to evacuate all its 378 nationals stranded in Thailand due to political protests, acting foreign minister Hussein Bhaila said Wednesday. The country’s national carrier, Sri Lankan airlines, operated flights to Thailand’s U-Tapoa airbase and completed the evacuation of all its […]

Dec 2, 2008 (LBO) – Over 100 people attached to Sri Lankan Aitken Spence Group’s Meedhuparu Island resort in the Maldives, have struck work demanding better working conditions, joining colleagues in three other resorts, reports said. The strike, which began over the weekend, is initiated by Maldivian employees who want the management to implement the […]

Nov 28, 2008 Sri Lanka’s hoteliers are bracing for a tough winter season with occupancy levels being hit by cancellations amid global turmoil while the industry was already struggling with weak arrivals, officials said. Though hotels are pressured to bring down room rates, officials say they are hoping to give value added services and improve […]

Nov 16, 2008 (LBO) – At the site on an ancient monastery in Sri Lanka, a group of British visitors are peering into ponds, looking closely at stone walls and adjusting their cameras and binoculars to get a better angle.Other visitors to the ruins in Arankelle in north central Sri Lanka are looking at the […]

Oct 23, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourism promotion agency will market Sri Lanka to Indians on a state by state basis, with the Gujarat in Andhra Pradesh as its pilot project, officials said. Head of Sri Lanka Renton de Alwis says India is a large market but it is difficult to market due its […]