Travel

SL Tourism gets spotlight on World Tourism Day

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

Steps have been taken to redesign the city as an eco friendly venue and no large hoardings would be allowed. In addition there would uniformity in all the shops.

Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism, Renton de Alwis, has been invited by the Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) to speak at a special Think Tank event to be held in Lima, Peru, on September 27, the Word Tourism Day.

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

This interactive thinktank is 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 will cover state-of-the-art of global thinking on Tourism and Climate Change with a strong focus on solutions. Discussions will include the UN roadmap, to adapt, mitigate, use new technology and provide financing for developing countries.

It will also cover 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 forums, conference held in Davos, Switzerland, details of which are available on the website www.earthlung.travel.

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

"Tourism Earth Lung: Towards a Carbon Clean Sri Lanka", initiative aims to mitigate carbon related climate change issues though catalytic actions of the tourism industry.

The Peru event is to be broadcast globally through all media and will feature Sri Lanka Tourism Earth Lung initiative recognising its pioneering status.

It aims to make Sri Lanka a carbon neutral to assist destination by 2018, with all stakeholders and the people of Sri Lanka mobilised towards the effort.

Tree of Life invests Rs. 30m on Villas

Hotel Tree of Life, Yahalatenne, Kandy is now offering four luxurious Villas, built at a cost of over Rs. 30 million.

The Villas have been built to fusion of colonial style and openness to nature, with surroundings that are untouched by artificial landscaping.

The villas are equipped with all modern facilities including a separate sitting area, pantry closet, a BBQ terrace with a panoramic view of the mountains that surround Tree of Life, and a Butler service.A unique feature at the Villas is the "Inn-Villa" Ayurvedic treatment.

"The Villas cater to the up-market client, both, foreign and Sri Lankan.

The demand for these Villas is very high," says Manager, Hotel Tree of Life, versatile hotelier, Timothy Paldano.

Hotel Tree of Life is Japan/Sri Lanka venture. Its Managing Director is Shelly Thenuwara, a leading personality in Sri Lanka's Leisure Industry.

Tourism projects fast tracking

Traffic lights have become the key to better project management in the new Ministry of Tourism Operations Room.

Every project being run by the Ministry and its four agencies will be subject to a once a month scrutiny of the Operations Room team to ensure that it is on target for completion as promised and within budget.

Chaired by the Ministry Secretary, George Michael and with Tourism Minister, Milinda Moragoda present, each project manager will be expected to submit the progress of each project for detailed scrutiny.

When a project is on target it will receive a green traffic light, if a key deadline is missed or delays are experienced then the project goes to amber and where a project has stalled the red lights will shine and a task force will be sent in, to get the project back on track.

"We held our first meeting of the Operations Room last month with positive reports from nearly all project managers," said George Michael.

"However, the Operations Room showed what it could do from the very start by highlighting problems that hadn't been revealed until then.

These problems were discussed in detail, possible solutions identified and now the project managers will have to report back next month on their success rate.

"Our aim is to support project managers, to share their problems and to find innovative solutions rather than pretending they didn't exist," he said.

Grand PATA award for Cinnamon

Cinnamon Island Alidhoo was conferred the prestigious Grand PATA award for the 'Education and Training' category at a presentation luncheon held in Hyderabad, India on September 19.

Titled 'We shared and we cared', the Cinnamon Island Alidhoo award-winning project is a new School of Hospitality at its premises. The initiative began as an energetic local recruitment drive and gradually snowballed into an unprecedented opportunity for the women and young people of the Barah and Utheem islands in the Maldives, to transform themselves into well-trained hoteliers. Starting this year, the resort's parent company, Keells Hotel Management Services Limited, invested to operate a hotel school in which the curriculum is focused on providing the youth of the islands neighbouring Cinnamon Island Alidhoo with skills that would equip them to enter the industry.

In an economy which revolves around the hospitality industry, the School of Hospitality is indeed a boon to the population, endowing the interested with the proficiency and expertise to break into the industry and contribute to society. It represents an exciting phase in the lives of these individuals: training womenfolk, enhancing their confidence and developing excellent employees who would be solid team members in a dynamic workplace.

Sector Head - Resort Hotels and Executive Vice President- John Keells Group, Jayantissa Kehelpannala, said "We are delighted to receive this PATA award, for it is a reflection of the strength and spirit of the brand. The School of Hospitality is the off-spring of our foray into truly sustainable development, which lives by a win-win ethic.

This is an initiative that benefits the people as much as the industry and I am glad we have been instrumental in making a difference."

He also expressed his thanks to Masters DDB, who did an excellent job in preparing and presenting the application, helping it to stand out amongst the many received - a total of 258 entries from 108 travel and tourism organisations!"

Cinnamon Island Alidhoo is the flagship resort of Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts - the John Keells Group's premier hospitality brand - and was the first Cinnamon branded resort in the Maldives, unveiled on the 1 July, 2007. It is the first of its kind established in the widely undiscovered atoll of Haa Alifu which is in the northern most part of the Maldives.

The other three PATA Grand Awards have been given to Singapore Airlines in the Marketing category; Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation for Heritage; and Nihiwatu Resort, Indonesia for the Environment. In addition to the four Grand Awards, 22 Gold Awards were also given to travel-related organisations and individuals.

PATA is an association that acts as a catalyst for the responsible development of the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry.

The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) unveiled the 'Meet in Sri Lanka' campaign on the eve of PATA Travel Mart 2008 in the presence of a high-powered delegation from Sri Lanka State and the private sector. The cohesive campaign developed with partners SriLankan Airlines, PATA Sri Lanka Chapter and MICE Industry. SriLankan Airlines and PATA Sri Lanka Chapter were partners to the ' Meet in Sri Lanka' campaign.

The High level delegation from Sri Lanka Tourism: Chairman Diethelm Travels Abbas Esufally, Chairman Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Renton de Alwis, Chairman SLCB Prema Cooray, Director Sales Taj Hotels Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Amal Goonatilleke and Managing Director Jetwing Hotels, Hiran Cooray at the event.