Serendib CEO Srilal to retire

Srilal Miththapala, Director / Chief Executive Officer of Serendib Leisure Management Ltd, and senior personality in the Sri Lanka tourism industry, will soon be retiring from Serendib Leisure Management Ltd after 10 years at the helm.

Srilal Miththapala

Srilal joined Serendib Leisure Management Ltd in 1999 as the Chief Executive Officer, and spearheaded the re-positioning and re-development of the three Serendib Hotel properties, Serendib Hotel - Bentota, Club Hotel Dolphin - Waikkal and Hotel Sigiriya - Sigiriya.

Today the three properties hold their own in their respective market segments as popular, well sort out, value for money products.

The positioning of Club Hotel Dolphin, as a fun and all inclusive beach resort, Hotel Serendib as the elegant Bawa masterpiece by the sea, and Hotel Sigiriya as nature and culture friendly hotel was developed under his leadership during his tenure. His personal interest in wildlife and nature pushed to make Hotel Sigiriya one of the well accepted benchmarked eco friendly hotels in Sri Lanka, winning several international and local awards for its pioneering work in energy and environment conservation.

Club Hotel Dolphin is possibly one of Sri Lanka's most successful resort hotels, returning good profitability even during the downturn.

Being an Electrical Engineer by profession (graduating from the University of Moratuwa), he had his early engineering career at M/s Richard Peiris & Co Ltd, where he was the Chief Engineer of the large Arpico factory complex at Nawinna.

Subsequently, he left for a short stint in the Middle East and returned and joined Riverina Hotel as the General Manager in 1985. He says that it was Prof.

Furkhan, Chairman of the Confifi Group, who took the risk of taking an Electrical Engineer and appointing him as the General Manager of what was then, Sri Lanka's leading four star beach resort, Riverina Hotel.

"It was a very difficult period for me, as I did not know any form of hoteliering, but I worked hard and learnt the ropes" says Srilal.

"I actually took on the job as a three year contract, as I was not sure whether I would like my new career away from Engineering. This 3 year trial with the tourism industry became a 23 year association".

He rapidly moved up in the Confifi hierarchy to taking over the post of Director Operations and then overlooking the diversification of the group in the new role of Director - Business Development.

In 1999, he joined Serendib Leisure Management Ltd as its Chief Executive Officer.

He is currently the President of Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) and also a Board Member of Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM).