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| Sunday, 2 June 2002 |
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Deer Park strikes Gold by INDUNIL THENUWARA The Deer Park Ceylon, a luxury four-star hotel at Giritale, Polonnaruwa, has won the Gold Award for the best website from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The hotel, owned and managed by the Jinasena Group, won this award for having the best travel website in the Asia Pacific region. The award was presented to Lalin Jinasena, the hotel's Senior Marketing Manager at PATA's official conference in New Delhi recently. This is the first occasion for a South Asian organisation to win this Gold Award. "We were up against very high competition with about 23 competitors taking part in this category. Awards were presented in 21 categories," Jinasena said. Chairman of the Group Nihal Jinasena said: "The previous winners of this award include the travel and tourism authorities of Singapore and Hong Kong. The award winners in the other categories this year were also large travel and tourism organisations. So we are specially honoured to be recognised in this manner." The comprehensive website, containing a number of pages, which provide information on all services the hotel offers, was designed by Affno (Pvt) Ltd. The Deer Park is located within a 11-acre jungle bordering the Giritale Reservoir. It comprises 88 individual chalets including four suites. The King Kashyapa Suite, the epitome of luxury, comes with a private swimming-pool, dining room and a butler service. The hotel offers a conventional restaurant and two outdoor restaurants - a traditional Sri Lankan style boutique and a jungle barbecue. Private dining facilities according to guest requirements are also provided. Chairman Jinasena said: "We started building this hotel in 1994 after recognising the need for up market hotels in the country. Our tour operators had encouraged us in this regard and we wanted to provide a different experience to the guests. However, tourism slumped with the Central Bank bomb blast in 1996 when this hotel was being constructed. Due to this, we had to change our focus to include the lower end of the market as well. "Prospects for tourism are now looking brighter again with the peace initiatives. So we are hoping to shift back to the high-priced, up market clientele. Marketing efforts in this regard including the new website, a new brochure and a marketing campaign have already got under way and if everything goes according to plan, we hope to go up market by December." While declining to comment on the new prices which would come into effect with this move, he asked: "If the larger hotels in India and Maldives can charge between US$ 250 - 300, why cannot we do the same in Sri Lanka if a quality product is there?" The majority of the Deer Park clientele comes from the United Kingdom followed by Germany. It will also cater to the upper end of the local market. Among the numerous awards the hotel has won is the Green Globe environmental award. "The hotel has been built in such a way that it blends in with nature and the surrounding jungle without being intrusive. At the construction stage, we had to do various adjustments to squeeze the chalets in between trees so that the trees need not be cut down," the Chairman said. The Jinasena Group also owns the Royal Lotus Hotel, situated next to the Deer Park. This was built in 1976. |
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