Siddhalepa Resorts to open ayurveda spa in Frankurt

Shirajiv Sirimane in Berlin

Siddhalepa Ayurveda Resorts will open a franchise ayurveda spa in Frankfurt shortly. This is the first time that a Sri Lankan franchise has been sold in Europe.

Managing Director of the Group, Asoka Hettigida told Sunday Observer Business at the ongoing ITB exhibition, that they are proud to carry a Sri Lankan brand name overseas. The spa would be housed in a 120-room luxury hotel in Dresden, Frankfurt and the hotel had invested nearly 500,000 Euro to obtain this franchise and also to prepare therapy rooms and train staff.

He said that they already have two franchise ayurveda spas in Germany. He said that there is good demand for high quality and genuine ayruveda products.

"However back in Sri Lanka the quality of some of the treatments are substandard and this can have a negative impact to the growing wellness industry in Sri Lanka,'' he said.

Hettigoda also said that they would provide highly paid jobs to many youth through this project.

He said that in most instances the clients take basic treatment form the spas and then travel to Sri Lanka for advanced long term treatment at their hotel, Siddhalepa Ayurvedic Health Resort in Wadduwa. "This helps us to maintain high occupancies at the hotel," he said.

The star class hotel with 50 rooms was completely refurbished recently.

He also disclosed that they are now working with one of the leading German insurance companies, Centrovital to seek German Government approval for ayurveda treatment to be included in their insurance policy.