Category: Tourism

Feb 20, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka received 56,916 tourists in January, around the same level as last year with a sharp increase in visitors from Russia which the tourism promotion office has identified as a new target market. January numbers were boosted in both 2007 and 2008 by the arrival of a spiritual leader […]

Feb 16, 2008 (LBO) – An insect with large multifaceted eyes and two pairs of transparent wings on an extended body is luring tourists to Sri Lanka and helping a specialist eco-travel firm earn big bucks. “We had people coming into Sri Lanka just to see dragonflies,” Jetwing Eco Holiday’s chief executive Gehan de Silva […]

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 […]