Anura Lokuhetty, a veteran hotelier, the Chairman of the Asian Council on Tourism and Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) and a Past President of The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka who has been in the industry for almost last four decades has been invited to address the tenth ICC World Congress on September 20, 2017 in Sydney, Australia on “Tourism: a driver for economic growth”.
Lokuhetty still functions as a honorary member of The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) and he is a strong believer of sustainable development of tourism principals through Community participation. He has addressed many other international forums over the years and published many articles in international journals.
He was awarded the Entrepreneur for the year award in 2010 at the 2011 Tourism Awards and in 2012, he was rewarded with the Central Bank Governor’s award for Economic Excellence. He has contributed immensely for the development of tourism for last several decades.
Lokuhetty is a strong believer of developing Sri Lanka through development of tourism. In many forums, over the years he has tried to get the attention of leaders of this country to use the natural beauty of Sri Lanka to develop the economy of the country using the country’s compactness, authenticity and diversity. He further stresses that when tourism develops with its multiplier effects agriculture, fisheries and cottage industry will automatically develop resulting in creating sufficient jobs for the people of this country. This will prevent Sri Lankans going overseas in search of employment which has created a major impact in socio cultural issues.
During his career in the tourism, he has worked for the Confifi Group for more than 25 years starting in 1978 as a Management Trainee and finally resigning as the CEO of the group.
He also has worked as the General Manager of Galle Face Hotel and during his time, he was instrumental in refurbishment and reposition of Galle Face Hotel in 2002 – 2005 as the General Manager/Director Development. Subsequently, he rejoined the Galle Face Group as the COO and CEO of the Hotel’s Corporation from which post he resigned to start his own hotel Serene Pavillions Wadduwa in 2009 which was awarded the best boutique hotel in Sri Lanka in 2011 at the Tourism Awards.
The World Chambers Congress unites chambers of commerce and their business leaders from more than 110 nations, to exchange knowledge and best practices, as well as address the business and economic issues that impact their small-and medium-sized enterprise (SME) community.
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