|
|
|
| Sunday, 22 January 2006 |
 |
|
 |
Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Travel Lanka a centre for spiritual tourism by Elmo Leonard Celebrity, Dr Deepak Chopra was in Sri Lanka, last week, intent on projecting the island as a centre for spiritual tourism. To achieve his objectives, in concurrence with the Ceylon Tourist Board, Dr Chopra intends developing places of Buddhist and cultural importance and ayurveda, as a healing science. Deepak Chopra MD, was described by Time Magazine as the new age super sage. He is a celebrity in his own right and is sought the globe over, on the subjects he specialises in, being some of the disciplines needed to be exploited in the development of spiritual tourism. Chairman, Ceylon Tourist Board, Udaya Nanayakkara said, "It affirms our belief that Sri Lanka has a great potential to market spiritual tourism. We have been pushing ayurveda and the need is for us to position Sri Lanka as a centre for spiritual healing as a well-being, where we consolidate all our offerings, Buddhism, ayurveda, meditation and yoga to one holistic package." Dr Chopra was accompanied by a group of twenty-five clients, among whom are top notch CEOs and presidents of firms, from across the globe. They embarked on a soul searching session in the solitude of Kandalama, in central Sri Lanka. Housed at the newly refurbished Kandapala Hotel, the group, directed by this world acclaimed guru, sought to seek their inner spiritual selves, it was made out to the media, in Colombo. The group also visited the cultural triangle, an ancient rock temple of Dambulla, the rock fortress of Sigiriya, ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnarauwa, and the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. Besides spiritual tourism, Sri Lanka has much scope for eco tourism; is strikingly beautiful and not spoiled by over-tourism, Dr Chopra said. Born in New Delhi, India, Chopra, started out with dreams of becoming a novelist before his cardiologist father convinced him to go to medical school. He moved to the United States at the age 21, proceeded to become an endocrinologist and chief of staff of Boston Regional Medical Centre. In 1985, struck by the teaching of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, he became interested in Ayurveda and other forms of traditional healing. Answering questions, Dr Chopra said that bearing ayurveda having its origin in India, it is also developed around the world, including Sri Lanka. Dr Chopra intends to return to Sri Lanka on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, to hold a regional conference on meditation and holistic healing. The NGO he heads is, "the most advanced NGO in the world," has a membership including two Nobel Prize winners, Al Gore, members of the surviving Kennedy family among celebrities, some of whom will be present in Colombo. Dr Chopra also saw a great chance for peace in Sri Lanka. On his return, he and his followers will intercede for peace from Colombo, for the rest of the world. He also saw economic prosperity for the island, in a scenario of peace. As part of marketing Sri Lanka as a spiritual tourism centre, Dr Chopra will recommend Dr A T Ariyaratne, the founder president of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, to receive a prestigious prize, for services spanning 45 years, towards humanity. Dr Chopra is the ideal person to market spiritual tourism in Sri Lanka, Nanayakara said, citing that he is the author of Perfect Health and Unconditioned Life, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, How to Know God, The Path to Love, among a host of other books including novels. His books have sold over 10 million copies, in 30 languages. Chopra had attracted the attention of thousands of visitors to the Chopra Centre for well-being in La Jolla, California. His friends and admirers run from Demi Morre to the Dalai Lama. Emirates to launch flights to Kolkata Marking its entry in the North East Indian skies, Emirates, the Dubai-based international airline will launch services to Kolkata from March 26. One of the world's fastest growing airlines, Emirates will operate six non-stop, direct flights per week between Dubai and Kolkata, the capital city of the state of West Bengal. Emirates will operate an Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the route in three and two-class configurations. The start of services to Kolkata will enhance Emirate's India network to seven cities being served by 63 flights per week. This follows the airline's recent decision to fortify its network in South India by launching services to Thiruvananthapuram, and increasing its flights to Cochin and Chennai starting February 1, 2006. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive, Emirates Airline and group said: "Emirates is delighted to offer its customers another exciting Indian destination. The start of Emirates flights to Kolkata is one more important milestones in the history of our Indian operations, as it signifies our entry in North East India." "Emirates and India go back a long way. The Dubai-based airline commenced its worldwide operations in October 1985 with Mumbai and Delhi as its first few on-line destinations. Over the years, the relationship with india strengthened as Emirates began serving new gateways in Southern India. This relationship is bound to grow stronger now as we begin services to North East India for the very first time." FPS - Ceylinco SembCorp in joint service Famous Pacific Shipping (Lanka) (Pvt) Ltd, a member of the FPS Shipping Group headquartered in Hong Kong and Ceylinco SembCorp Integrated Logistics (Pvt) Ltd, a joint venture company of the Ceylinco group and SembCorp Logistics of Singapore, recently signed a MoU to synergise their joint services to offer customers a total logistics solution. FPS Group, is the largest Asian based Freight Logistics Company with representation in 60 countries and over 4,000 destinations worldwide. Primary services include Sea Freight, Air Freight, Consolidation and Custom House Brokering. Ceylinco SembCorp along with their overseas partners specialise in warehouse management, transportation and value added services. The combination of these two specialists will provide a complete Freight Logistics, Cargo clearing, state-of-the-art warehousing and distribution service to the customers in Sri Lanka. Ceylinco SembCorp's special warehouse automated systems will greatly assist customers in implementing cost saving "on time inventory controls". At present their joint services have been used by some of the leading multinational companies with great success. Gihan Nanayakkara, Chairman/Managing Director of FPS Sri Lanka and board
member of the FPS group along with Hiran de Silva, Director and Ms. Kalyani
Rodrigo, General Manager of Ceylinco SembCorp expressed confidence in a
successful partnership in the future. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
