ITC Limited’s wholly owned subsidiary WelcomHotels Lanka (Private) Limited has invested USD 500 million to launch the 352-room hotel, ITC Ratnadipa in Colombo adding a major landmark to the local tourism and hospitality landscape.
Chairman and Managing Director, ITC Ltd, India, Sanjiv Puri, said that they invested in this hotel at a time when Sri Lanka’s tourism sector was ailing but they had confidence in the destination Sri Lanka as they saw future potential.
“Sri Lanka has amazing tourism potential which is yet to be exploited and India tourism is growing leaps and bounds and they are looking for destinations and Sri Lanka fits their taste.”
He also said that youth too want to travel and through several road shows that they hope to conduct in India and globally to promote ITC Ratnadipa will not only bring Indians to their hotel but to the entire country. He also said they were very pleased with the manner in which Sri Lanka rose from an economic crisis and thanked the country’s present leadership for the positive initiatives taken in this regard. He said that Colombo was their first and biggest investment into leisure. “ITC is one of India’s foremost multi-business conglomerates with businesses in consumer goods, hotels, paperboards and packaging, agri business and information technology and in Nepal we first invested in our other business and then moved into leisure.”
“However in Sri Lanka we next hope to look at investing from some of our other diversified verticals.”
It was also disclosed that the land was given on a 99 year lease. He also said that still India and Sri Lanka’s construction costs are much lower than in other countries. This landmark complex is situated along the shores of the Indian Ocean on one side and Beira Lake on the other and one cannot get a super location like this.”
The two towers of the property which house the hotel and other luxurious Sapphire Residences are connected by a sky bridge ‘Ahasa’ which is an architectural marvel and the first of its kind in South Asia.
ITC is a global exemplar in sustainability, and it is a matter of immense pride that the first 12 properties in the world to be LEED Zero Carbon and the first 4 to be LEED Zero Water certified are all ITC Hotels. “These too would be highly competitive tools to market our brand.”
ITC Ratnadipa’s extensive modern banqueting facilities spread over 40,000 sq ft together with its delectable cuisines will contribute meaningfully to this mission and hope to bring a large number of MICE business to Sri Lanka.
Shirajiv Sirimane