|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 13 April 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
A mini hotel in the heart of Colombo by Elmo Leonard The refurbished mini hotel at the Ceylon Hotel School is now open to the public. The hotel has 12 rooms and one suite on the third and fourth levels of the school's premises at Galle Road, Colombo 3. Aitken Spence furnished the suite at the cost of around one million rupees as a gift to the tourist industry. Four rooms were furnished by Mount Lavinia Hotel and the Jetwing Group. The school is on the look out for sponsors to furnish the other eight rooms. The mini hotel is not targeted at the traveller, the Hotel School Principal, Kumar Thambyah said. The absence of club facilities makes it an ideal meeting place for business travellers or for those seeking maximum confidentiality. Residents have the option of using the swimming-pool of the Colombo Plaza (the former Hotel Lanka Oberoi). USAID recently donated $ 35,000 to develop a new curriculum for the Hotel School, which started in 1966 and remains under the Ministry of Tourism. The school is now in its own building, which has seven levels. It also has satellite schools in Kandy, Kurunegala, Ratnapura, Anuradhapura, Bandarawela, Trincomalee and Matara. The school incurs an expenditure of Rs 20 million per annum. With the fees charged being a token Rs 1000 per month, the Government subsidises the running of this academy. Two courses are held concurrently each year; one for graduates who would go into management, and the other for various trades such as cookery and house-keeping. Since inception, 15,000 students have passed out of the school, he said. Fifty per cent of the graduates who pass out of the school are employed by the tourism industry in countries such as the Middle East, Australia, England, Germany, France, United States and Canada. Many others had gained entry to famous hospitality management schools in Canada, Australia and England, before launching their careers, Thambyah said. Many other past students have used their affiliation to the hospitality industry to migrate to other parts of the world. The Chairmen of the Ceylon Tourist Board and Ceylon Hotels Corporation and Thambyah himself are graduates of the Hotel School. The global tourism industry is a $ 35,000 operation, according to international tourism statistics. Thambyah, who counts 35 years in the tourism industry in Sri Lanka and overseas, finds that there are three types of tourists - those who want to enjoy sun and sand and beauty; those who have historical interests; and those who like gambling. Sri Lanka must cater to all these types and lesser and higher spending groups, if the country is to derive maximum economic benefits from the industry, he said. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
