Business Travel

'Deep South' an attractive destination for tourists

The Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) launched the "Deep South" tourism promotion drive last week to promote the district as a highly desirable tourist destination.

Hambantota, one of the most backward districts in terms of economic development is rich with resources and untapped potential and HDCC is planning to utilise its environmental, historical and cultural heritage in the district to attract tourists to the district it calls the "Deep South" of Sri Lanka.

Director General, HDCC Azmi Thassim said that the Deep South program was initiated five years ago. During the past few years HDCC has undertaken numerous activities to uplift the tourism industry in the district with the assistance of Manchester Solutions, UK and Mercy Crops, USA as well as entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in the industry. HDCC has already initiated local and international promotional campaigns to promote the Deep South. It has launched a website www.deepsouth.lk which gives all the tourism information.

A permanent committee has been appointed from local leaders of the tourism industry and a permanent manager has been appointed to run the project. Deep South has been introduced in World Travel Market in 2006 and 2007.

HDCC has also produced a documentary film highlighting the attractions of the Hambantota district.

Thassim said that the tourism industry in Sri Lanka confined to limited areas in the island due to the climatic conditions and distance from Colombo and places such as Hambantota are not much popular.

Our objective is to promote positive aspects of the climate, natural locations and resources, history, culture and the community life in the area to make the "Deep South" an attractive destination for tourists. This initiative will benefit the tourism industry of Sri Lanka, he said.

Diversity of resources within short proximity is an important advantage in the Hambantota district to develop the tourism industry.

Sunny beaches along the 450 Km long costal belt of the district, Yala, Bundala and Udawalawe national parks, historical sites such as Kirinda and Mulkirigala, Hummanaya blow hole, scuba diving and snorkelling in Tangalle, Turtle watching in Rekewa, jungle river safari in Ambalantota, Ussangoda, the legendary landing place of Ravana and boat rides in the Tissa tank are among the tourist attractions in the district.

Today there are 1,000 hotel rooms in 100 tourist hotels in the district and to boost the industry it needs more investments parallel to the promotional campaign.

GW

Emirates flights to Los Angeles from September 1

Emirates is set to expand its network even further this year with the start of services to the West Coast of the US, Emirates will open its third US gateway with non-stop flights between the Californian city of Los Angeles and Dubai from September 1.

Operating daily, the service will be the first non-stop operation connecting Dubai, the Gateway to Arabia to LA, the Gateway to Hollywood. Emirates will fly its Boeing 777-200LR on the route, offering 266 seats in a three class configuration and will provide up to 10 tonnes of cargo capacity from LA.

Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said, "Los Angeles represents Emirates' commitment to the American market.

We have evaluated the US for expansion opportunities and have carefully examined our existing services in Houston and New York both of which have been very successful. We look forward to recreating this success by connecting Los Angeles to Dubai and beyond."

Mount Lavinia Hotel awarded ISO 22000 certification

Chairman SLSI, Dr. A. R. L. Wijesekera congratulated the staff of Mount Lavinia Hotel for having obtained the ISO 22000 Food Safety Management Certification from SLSI. He said the Mount Lavinia Hotel was the first Hotel to obtain HACCP Food Safety Certification, in 2004.

This Hotel occupies a historic building which had its origin in 1806 as Governor Thomas Maitland's residence and was featured in 1956 by International film Director David Lean in the film 'Bridge on the River Kwai,.

The ISO 22000 standard published in 2005 he said is an international auditable standard defining Food Safety along the entire food chain to ensure that there are no weak links.

The standard can be applied to organisations ranging from feed producers and other food manufacturers and related organisations such as producers of equipment packaging material ensuring food safety along the line. The essence of the ISO 22000 was to have a HACCP type standard with a basis of the ISO 9001 : 2000 Quality Management standard.

The ISO 22000 standard provides a food safety management system that incorporates all the generally recognised key elements to ensure food safety along the entire food chain, up to the point of consumption.

Rs. 80 m refurbishment for Holiday Inn ballroom

by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

[email protected]
 

A special lighting system, the first of kind in the country has been installed at the Holiday Inn's ballroom hall in a major refurbishment program to provide shades of different types to suit the multitude of functions such as weddings, conferences and product launches.

Holiday Inn's Manager Wasim Cader said in keeping with international standards, the ballroom hall had been refurbished at a cost of Rs 80 million. The special lighting system had been imported from Singapore to provide colour to the ballroom. "There are 16 million colours to choose from depending on the nature of the function."

Food and Beverage Manager Lasantha de Silva said the ballroom was spacious enough to host three wedding functions simultaneously.

Indian cuisine was a speciality at the hotel besides the a la carte menu. There are 94 rooms and four suites at the Holiday Inn. He said the Liberty ballroom is now equipped with state of the art DMX lighting system, a sophisticated and hi-tech system with 16.7 million colours.

Holiday Inn Hotel's Director Imitiaz J. Cader said the management will invest a further Rs 150 million to build a multi car park at the hotel to provide additional parking for customers. the Holiday Inn is affiliated to the world's biggest hotel chain Holiday Inn, he said.