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| Sunday, 22 May 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Travel mart to showcase Lanka - Gateway to South Asia by Surekha Galagoda The mega Sri Lanka travel mart titled "Sri Lanka - Gateway to South Asia" will be held from June 3-5 at the BMICH in Colombo. It is being organised by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board for the third consecutive year.
Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board Udaya Nanayakkara said "The broad aim of this mart is to showcase the whole of South Asia as a key tourism region and Sri Lanka as the gateway to this very exciting region which has diverse attractions to offer, much of it yet unexplored and relatively unknown to visitors." He said "The focus of Sri Lanka-Gateway to South Asia" has been on promoting niche market products such as villas, boutique hotels and heritage hotels as well as making the world aware of options for other activities such as cultural tourism, adventure holidays, nature tours and wellness holidays which include Ayurveda and Spa therapies." The Mart will provide buyers with an excellent opportunity to view all that South Asia has to offer under one roof. "There will be about 130 exhibitors including exhibitors from other SAARC countries, said Director Marketing SLTB Malraj B. Kiriella. In addition there will be more than 150 buyers from all over the world for the exhibition. Buyers have confirmed participation from Western Europe, China, Japan, ASEAN countries as well as from emerging markets in the Middle East. He said that Pre and Post travel mart familiarisation tours have been organised for buyers to personally experience and view the products Sri Lanka has to offer. Seminars and workshops as well as presentations by industry professionals will give buyers an insight into the Sri Lankan and South Asian markets. They will also be able to schedule appointments with sellers at a Buyer/Seller Meeting a day prior to the event. The Mart will be inaugurated on Friday, June 3 at 9 a.m. with an inaugural reception. Business sessions will commence at 10 a.m. and go on until 5.30 p.m. A workshop will be organised on Saturday, June 4 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon with Business Sessions scheduled between 1 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. Business Sessions will also be held on Sunday, June 5, scheduled between 9 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. and the Travel Mart concludes with the awards ceremony at 6 p.m. Delegates could choose from a number of Post Tours starting Monday, June 6 if they wish to see more of the country and experience its products first hand. The exhibition will be open to the public from 12.00 noon on June 4. Kiriella said that many activities have been planned for the public this year. Among them are Elephant Safaris, Eco tourism lectures, Adventure tourism activities such as abseiling and flying fox, photographic exhibition, craft and lace making, lectures by nature lovers, cookery demonstration by well known chef Publis and a gem exhibition as well as identification of gems. Another novel feature this year is Sri Lanka Rupavahini's mega domestic tourist exhibition "Sarisara". Other exhibitors include the travel and tourism sector, international exhibitors, provincial councils and providers of support services such as the IT sector, ceramics, apparel, tea and gems. The media sponsor for the event is the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. ########## Hotel Heritage wins Best Flower Gardens Award
Heritage Hotel swept the board again winning the first prize in the Medium Commercial Garden (MCG) category at the recently concluded "April Bloom" - Annual Flower Competition organised by the Nuwara-Eliya Municipal Council to coincide with the "Nuwara Eliya Season", a spokesman for the Hotel said. The Hotel won third place at the cut-flower competition for displaying the most number of attractive flower arrangements and secured 25 certificates. The spokesman said the Heritage Hotel maintains one of the best gardens in the city with over 100 varieties of flowers including over 20 different varieties of roses. The Heritage Nuwara Eliya is housed in one of the most stately and graceful buildings in Sri Lanka. With its extensive and well laid out gardens, salubrious climate and personalised service, the hotel is the ideal place to spend a relaxed holiday, he said. With the grandeur of a gracious bygone era cocooned in modern comfort, where the visitor will see and experience the philosophy of "Small is Beautiful" was the country's seat of the British Governor Henry Gregory, designed and built according to the classical or critical concept of the Victorian era, he said. The Chairman of the Management Company - The Heritage Asia (Pvt) Ltd Robin Jebaseelan who is living in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire was greatly impressed with this harmonious blend, when we visited the hotel recently, he said. The Management and staff contribute in no small measure in making "The Heritage" the "Friendliest Hotel in town". These all round favourable prospects have prompted the management company to effect further improvements so that "The Heritage" will be one of the most sought after boutique type Colonial hotels in Nuwara Eliya. ############# Cathay Pacific wins four brand awards Cathay Pacific received four brand recognition awards in separate polls conducted by the Reader's Digest and Yahoo ! The airline received a Platinum and Gold Award in this year's Reader's Digest SuperBrands customer survey and two awards in the Yahoo! Emotive Brand Awards 2004-2005. The Reader's Digest SuperBrands consumer survey asked 6,000 readers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines to rate companies according to five criteria; quality, value, strength of image, trustworthiness and how well each brand understand consumers' needs.CX was awarded Platinum SuperBrand status, which according to the Reader's Digest recognises "the cream of crop". The airline has now been awarded Platinum and status in the Hong Kong airline category for six consecutive years. "Platinum status is an extraordinary recognition of dominance, meaning no other competitor comes close to them ! To achieve Platinum status, these dominant brands must achieve a rating score of at least double that of the nearest competitor," the Reader's Digest said. The airline received the Gold award at the All-Asia Airline category. The airline received two awards in the Yahoo! Emotive Brand Awards
2004-2005. CX carried off the Top Emotive Brand award in the Airline
category, and was one of seven companies named overall Top Emotive Brand
Winners. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
The historic "Muragala" found at the entrance to Dagabas which depicts
the culture and history of Sri Lanka has been identified as the special icon
for this year's travel mart to highlight the country's rich heritage. 
