Travel / Lifestyle

Leisure industry set to bounce back - William Costley

by Lalin Fernandopulle

Despite the drop in the number of tourist arrivals and occupancy in many leading hotels in Colombo during the year Hilton Colombo has improved tremendously on its occupancy and the country's leisure industry is set to bounce back, said General Manager, Hilton Colombo William Costley.

He was addressing the media on Wednesday to mark the hotel's 21st year and its service to the leisure and culinary industry.

"The hotel industry underwent a severe setback at the beginning of the year but the situation now looks positive for hotels with confidence building among tourists who are coming in droves", he said. Costley said it has been an exciting and challenging experience to serve a wide range of customers and maintain the momentum despite many obstacles.

"The hotel entered the 21st year in a spectacular and stylish manner looking forward to a sensational and prosperous year ahead", he said.

The hotel launched a series of events for the year ahead to celebrate another milestone in its journey. Marketing Communications Manager Hilton Colombo Gigi De Silva said the year has been planned with fun-filled activities and elaborate celebrations which will focus on the central theme of the number 21.

"A series of promotions launched each month is another key feature of the agenda", she said.

Launching the year of celebrations the hotel will host a flamboyant 21- hour Latino carnival commencing September 21. In keeping with the vision to support and enhance the opportunities for youth, the hotel will launch their CSR program next month where all proceeds from fund-raising activities and contributions will be made to the Ceylon School for the Deaf and Blind.

The hotel will award 20 scholarships to the Sri Lankan Institute of Hotel Management. The hotel paid tribute to 74 pioneering members whose dedication and loyalty has made an immense contribution.

Hilton Colombo, a part of the Hilton Hotels Corporation was launched in July 1987 and over the years has been host to some of the highest dignitaries from around the world.

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Aitken Spence chefs dominate Culinary Art 2007

Aitken Spence Hotels, Sri Lanka's leading resort operator again emerged as the runaway winners of the 12th Culinary Art Competition organised by the Chefs' Guild of Sri Lanka, maintaining its reputation for offering the best cuisine in the country.

Chefs from hotels belonging to the Aitken Spence chain won 164 awards at the Culinary Art 2007. The medal tally included 45 Gold medals, 67 Silver medals and 52 Bronze medals.

The 12th biennial Culinary Art competition organised by the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka was held from August 25-27 at the BMICH. Culinary Art 2007 is Sri Lanka's biggest food and hotel show featuring 1,019 chefs from 110 hotels, from Sri Lanka and overseas.

There were 22 categories for the medals and the Aitken Spence medal tally displayed the sheer dominance the resort chain's chefs had over its competitors in this field. Aitken Spence won 16 medals from the category of 5 course set Dinner Menu, 10 medals for Pettit Fours or Pralines, 7 for Wedding Cake Structures, 6 for Artistic Pastry Showpieces, 13 for Artistic Bakery Showpiece, 6 for Butter Sculptures and 4 for Sri Lankan Meals.

To serve with love and not through fear. Gemunu Goonawardhane, Director movingly encapsulated this sentiment wherein he started as a Chef and climbed to where he is in Corporate Affairs at Aitken Spence.

ABC Travels 'Fly now pay later scheme'

ABC Travels (Pvt) Ltd., together with ABC Credit card Co. is revolutionising the travel industry by way of its "Fly now pay Later scheme" on a 0% Interest Instalment package tailor-made to suit the budget of anyone visiting ABC Travels to obtain their services.

Headed by Managing Director Orville Pereira and Manager Ishan Munaweera, ABC Travels has moved by leaps and bounds during six months ever since its ceremonial launch of the name change attended by VIPs in the beginning of the year.

The focus of ABC Travels has shifted towards a new direction by establishing themselves as a corporate house which caters to all the needs of the corporate entity as well as an incentive tour operator catering to the leisure travellers on a highly exclusive basis.

The most recent tour package which commenced on August 1 comprising 20 passengers who embarked on a journey to the forgotten cities of ancient China and the Land of Smiles (Thailand) ended on a very high note on August 9 by arriving in Sri Lanka with a lifetime of unforgettable memories for everyone.

Speaking of the future innovative plans of ABC Travels Pereira said, "We are a Travel Company looking at offering new and innovative moves to maximise the service levels and to offer the best value for money to our clients.

Our dedicated team is always on the look out for any new scheme we could put together to offer our loyal customers with the very best and beyond, hence ABC Travels has come up with another scheme which will be launched on November 17 with a guarantee of revolutionising the travel industry."