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| Sunday, 29 February 2004 |
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Grandeur for Grand Hotel The entrance to the Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya, the icon of small England has been completely refurbished at a cost of Rs 20 million and will be officially opened on March 5. The Managing Director of the hotel, Gerard Ondaatjie said "we retained the colonial structure, the Edward Barnes style, but gave a complete new look to the entrance, which appeared old and worn out. The roofs, windows, floors, lighting and the interior were given a facelift. The fabric for curtaining was imported from Italy and France to blend with the existing architecture. The banquet hall too has been refurbished and fitted with modern multi- media equipment. It can accommodate 200 guests theatre style. The regular patrons of the hotel would be happy to know that the natural fire places have been restored to give them the cosy comfortable feeling they were always accustomed to. In 1996, the Grand hotel commissioned the 64-deluxe rooms, better known as the new wing, to cater to the upmarket clientele. The rooms equipped with modern equipment are very comfortable. However, they did not match with the rest of the hotel as they looked old. Therefore, "we thought the entrance needed a facelift and, the upsurge in tourist arrivals during the last 20 months, justified it", said Ondaatjie. "My vision is not just to develop the hotel, but to use it to develop the destination. I want to have activities throughout the year at the hotel to publicise the destination. During the last three years, we had golf tournaments at the hotel premises in collaboration with SriLankan Airlines and this publicised the destination as well "The authentic Indian restaurant opened three years ago has been very popular among the Indian tourists who are very particular about their food. The Indian market has become increasingly popular with its tourists, who are issued visas on arrival at the airport. "Among the other plans envisaged are camp grounds, places for guests to walk about and hike, which would attract more visitors to Nuwara Eliya," Ondaatjie said. "Two types of tourists visit Sri Lanka - those who relish our exotic beaches and, the others who enjoy a round-trip tour of the country. Nuwara Eliya comes under the latter category and, to savour its flavour, we have to give them something different", Ondaatjie said. During the last 18 months there was an upsurge of British, German and Italian tourists with an increased occupancy rate of 18 per cent and, it is hoped the boom would continue. |
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