Business travel

Palms Hotel captivates guests

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

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The sprawling lawn and flowers rustling in the wind captivates the guest who enters the Palms Hotel at Beruwela.

The emerald lawns too have a soothing effect on a scorchingly warm day. Even the hotel's landscape has been carefully designed to blend with its architecture to capture one's imagination.

The Palms was earlier known as the Warnel's Reef Hotel, a popular up market destination that caters to up market clients from Western Europe. After its refurbishment the hotel was renamed as the Palms Hotel. The Resident Manager, Rohan Gamage attributed the lull in tourist arrivals due to the turmoil facing the airline industry owing to escalating fuel costs and recession affecting western countries.

He said there are a few repeat clients who check into the hotel, mostly from western countries.

These tourist love the serenity of the hotel and the golden beach. "However, an aggressive marketing campaign has to be launched overseas to resuscitate the tourist industry, he said.

The Colombo Fort Hotels Ltd, is the mother company that owns the Palms Hotel at Beruwela, the Club Palm Bay at Marawila and the Sigiriya Village.

Palms Hotel was struck by the tsunami after it was refurbished in 2004.

It struck the hotel two days before the grand re-opening causing a loss of several millions of rupees. But the hotel bounced back after millions of rupees were injected for refurbishment. Director Operations, Fort Colombo Hotels, Nishada Periyaperuma said the company also owns two resort bungalows at Haputale, one at Rosita Talawakele at Kotagala and at St. Andrew's Talawakele apart from the main three hotels.

Palms Hotel has 106 air conditioned rooms including suites facing the panoramic Indian ocean. The rooms are luxuriously furnished with Cable TV, mini-bar, telephones with IDD facilities and hot and cold water.

The other facilities include an open air garden facing the beach, an air conditioned 24-hour coffee shop, speciality seafood restaurant and pool.

The lobby bar is stocked with the choicest range of spirits and wines.

SLTPB to promote prime locations to increase hotel occupancy

By Lalin FERNANDOPULLE

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The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) will increase hotel occupancy to around 60 per cent by promoting prime locations and offering attractive packages for discerning travellers, said Additional Director General (SLTPB), Dileep Mudadeniya.

He was speaking at a ceremony to launch the Narabamu Sri Lanka Yapahuwa and model city development program to mark World Tourism Day.

Mudadeniya said of the 50 per cent hotel occupancy last year over 40 per cent was from the domestic tourism sector.

Sri Lanka Tourism launched the programs as a new strategic move to help people travelling locally to discover an array of fresh attractions throughout the island.

Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, George Michael said Sri Lanka has much to offer for the discerning traveller.

We are confident that the project will create greater interest among travellers and help them to protect the environment and the local heritage.

The communication campaigns will include two television programs, a series of stories and visuals to be published in newspapers and magazines and a website which will provide information on special offers and services to travellers.

Jackson Anthony and Hema Nalin Karunarathne, popular cinema personalities will help in designing the television programs.

"The campaign will take potential holiday makers through nine provinces featuring many attractions, interesting stories from the area, folklore and other information from each province which will be irresistible for travellers to visit sites and discover the beauty of the island", Michael said.

The SLTPB's initiatives to promote the diverse heritage and the rich history of the island came under heavy criticism that such moves will not be adequate to promote the destination and attract travellers.

It was said that any initiative undertaken by politicians is bound to fail. Tree planting is a mere slogan and no concerted effort has been made to nurture the trees planted in the previous instances.

A tree planting campaign was launched in 2006 to mark World Tourism Day.

Spotlight on Sri Lanka Tourism on World Tourism Day

Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism, Renton de Alwis was invited by the Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) to speak at a special Think Tank event in Lima, Peru, yesterday - Word Tourism Day.

The conference theme was "Tourism: Responding to the Challenge of Climate Change".

The interactive think tank was hosted by Dr. Alan Garcia Perez, President of the Republic of Peru and Dr. Mercedes Araoz Fernandez, Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru in conjunction with UNWTO.

The forum covered state-of-the-art global thinking on Tourism and Climate Change with a strong focus on solutions. Discussions included the UN roadmap, to adapt, mitigate, use new technology and provide financing for developing countries.

It also covered the UNWTO/UNEP Davos Process on how to implement it around the world.

In October last year, Sri Lanka Tourism launched a pioneering initiative "Tourism Earth Lung Towards Carbon Clean Sri Lanka," at UNWTO/UNEP/World Economic fora, conference held in Davos, Switzerland.

Organisations such as, UNWTO and PATA have recognised this initiative as one with potential to grow to be a global initiative for tourism destinations.

This year in Sri Lanka, World Tourism Day celebrations focused around making Yapahuwa an eco-destination where general measures will be adopted to ensure the greening of its environment.

Club Hotel Dolphin - best cocktail makers

The finals of the Negombo Regional Bartender competition organised by the Negombo Hoteliers' Association was held at the Browns Beach Hotel. L. W. D. Chandana Keerthirathna of Club Hotel Dolphin became the "Overall Winner of the Cocktail Competition" and also won the "Innovative Cocktail Winner" award, while R. M. M. D. Bandara Premarathne also of Club Hotel Dolphin won the 'Most Flaring Bartender" award.

Special fares to Singapore from Cathay Pacific

Singapore, the Lion City with its multiple attractions of the Night Safari, Santhosa Island and endless shopping is made all the more scintillating with special fares announced by Cathay Pacific. The offer is valid up to end of November and excludes taxes.

Sales and Marketing Manager for Cathay Pacific Airways Colombo Ms. Ruhan Abbas said, "To qualify for this advantage, two passengers must travel together outbound. It is ideal for the businessman who wants to give his wife a treat, or even for business travellers who need to travel together as well as individual flyers".

Pie promotion

Cinnamon Grand's Cheers Pub will hold a pie promotion from October 9-19 from 11 a.m. to 12 midnight.

The menu, with its sweet and savoury range offers some of the world's best loved combinations, and some novel creations turned out by the hotel's leading chefs.

The savoury selection includes the ever popular Steak and Kidney Pie, Chicken and Mushroom Pie, Chillie Beef Pie and a Ham and Pineapple Pie for that Hawaiian twist. Seafood fans can go for special Seafood Pie or the delectable Fish Pie. There's also a range of pies with combination such as Salmon and Mussel, Cheese and Bacon, Meat and Onion, Spinach and Ricotta Cheese or Leek and Potato.