More luxury rooms down south

Shirajiv SIRIMANE in Hambantota

Over 3,000 star class hotel rooms will be built in Hambantota and construction work on some of the properties will commence by June this year.

The ground breaking ceremony of the proposed five star Shangri-La Hotel in Sisilasa Gama Hambantota will commence in July. This would be a 100 room resort hotel along the beach. The hotel is expected to be opened by end of 2013.

Sri Lanka is a country of unsurpassed natural beauty, rich in cultural heritage and above all it is well recognised for its warm and hospitable population, said Shangri-La International Hotel Management President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Dogan.

Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is, Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel group, and regarded as one of the world's finest hotel ownership and management companies.

The Shangri-La story began in 1971 with its first deluxe hotel in Singapore. Today, there are 72 hotels and resorts throughout Asia Pacific, North America, the Middle East, and Europe, representing a rooms inventory of over 30,000. In addition, new hotels are under construction in Canada, mainland China, India, Philippines, Qatar, Turkey and United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation is also looking at exploring the possibility of entering the leisure industry by building a four star plus property in Hambantota.

In addition the Korean Convention Centre that is being built in Hambantota is also offering over 200 rooms. This is mainly for the MICE market that is expected to patronise the Convention Centre, an office from the Centre said.

The Ranmihitenna tele-cinema village too would offer 70 rooms under their second phase.

The fourth major hotel project is expected to be built in between the new Suriyawewa International Cricket Stadium and the proposed Hambantota International Airport (HIA) in Mattala. The Sri Lanka hotel chains have expressed interest for this project.

According to Chairman, Air Port Aviation, Prasanna Wickramasuriya, the HIA too would build their own airport hotel which would have over 75 rooms. Construction of this would commence by the end of the year.

CEO, Hambantota Chamber of Commence, Azmi Thassim said that one of the main reasons for the leisure sector to move to the Hambantota area is the Hambantota Port, HIA and the International Cricket Stadium. In addition, tourism too is now picking up and the region has received tremendous publicity due to hosting of World Cup matches and the commonwealth bid.