Category: Tourism

Feb 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is targeting Middle Eastern visitors by tying up with Al-Jazeera TV to make up for dwindling numbers from traditional European markets, officials said. “There is a need to be more aggressive in promoting the country’s image among Middle East travellers,” deputy minister of tourism Faiszer Musthapha […]

Feb 12, 2008 (LBO) – Aitken Spence Hotels has boosted net profits by 78 percent in the December quarter and slashed its Sri Lanka losses in the first nine months of the current financial year, its latest results show. Pre-tax losses in Sri Lanka fell to 195.6 million rupees from 285.7 million rupees in the […]

Feb 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Associated Hotels Company Limited (AHCL) will merge with Ceylon Hotels Corporation (CHC) and another company, Perigrine Private Limited, the company said Monday. The date of merger was not announced, but may be determined by the registrar of companies. Associated Hotels share was up 10.25 on the news to […]

Feb 11, 2008 (LBO) – Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways will resume daily flights to Sri Lanka from March, after security was tightened at the island’s international airport, the airline said Monday. CX711 departs Hong Kong at 16.15 and arrives in Sri Lanka at 22.45, while the return CX710 service departs Colombo at 00.15 on […]

Jan 20, 2007 (LBO) –Russia’s Foreign Ministry has issued a recommendation to Russian citizens to refrain from trips to Sri Lanka in the wake of growing terrorist activity by the Tamil Tigers. “This organization has noticeably stepped up its terrorist activity of late,” a source at the Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass […]

Galle, Sri Lanka Jan 17, 2008 (LBO) – Hundreds of international and local authors, dramatists, poets, historians and architects are flocking to a coastal town in southern Sri Lanka, as the ‘Galle International Literary Festival’ takes off. . The festival is being staged in and around a fort in Galle, a southwestern coastal town 116 […]

Jan 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan city hotels have announced plans to impose tough rules to raise standards and deliver a better service to tourists with the aim of earning more money after a recent rate hike. “The tourists go to a hotel with an expectation and it (hotel) is doomed if he sees […]

Jan 10, 2008 (LBO) – Foreign visitors to Sri Lanka surged 55 percent in the peak winter season month of December 2007, the island’s tourism promotion office said, though the island saw 11 percent less tourists in the full year. Visitors from key Western European markets jumped 56.6 percent to 23,500 in December with the […]

Jan 08, 2008 (LBO) – The arrival of a spiritual leader and his followers for a religious ceremony in Sri Lanka will boost foreign visitors in January, the war ravaged island’s tourism promotion officials said Tuesday. Some 30,000 members of the Bohra community are expected for the 10-day Ashara Mubaraka ceremony starting January 9. His […]

Jan 2, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s luxury hotels raised their rates on Wednesday despite an escalating ethnic civil war that triggered a 20 percent drop in tourists. The Yala National Park was shut for 10 weeks after seven soldiers were killed in a rebel attack on the popular tourist destination, home to leopards, elephants […]

Dec 17, 2007(LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to attract more Indian tourists next year on the trail of a legendary tale where an Indian prince was said to have come to the island to rescue his kidnapped wife, officials said. Sri Lanka’s Tourism Promotion Bureau says Sri Lanka has 34 sites related to the ancient […]

Dec 02, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka was ranked a greener destination in a recent international rating but its aim to draw tourists by positioning the island as carbon neutral is threatened unless it acts immediately to curb pollution. Sri Lanka was given an overall position of 66 out of 141 countries, after considering the […]