India’s Mahindra Holidays and Ideal Retreats bring Club Mahindra to Sri Lanka

This week witnessed the introduction to Sri Lanka of the largest vacation ownership company outside the USA, namely Club Mahindra, which was introduced by Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL) and Ideal Retreats (Pvt.) Ltd.

President opens Golden Crown Hotel in Kandy

The Golden Crown Hotel, a super luxury, deluxe property located on two acres of beautifully landscaped gardens in Kandy and designed by renowned architect Dr. Upendra Rajapakse, was ceremonially declared open by President Maithripala Sirisena on November 25. 

SriLankan special sales promo at WTC

SriLankan Airlines Colombo sales team recently conducted a special Melbourne promotion at the World Trade Center offering customers an interactive promotion with giveaway tickets to lucky winners.

Emirates brings step change in 3D printing for aircraft parts

Emirates has announced that it has used cutting-edge 3D printing technology to manufacture components for its aircraft cabins.

Etihad Airways Swiss flights become all Boeing 787 Dreamliner Services

Etihad Airways’ flights to and from Switzerland will become an all-Boeing 787 Dreamliner operation with the aircraft being deployed on the Abu Dhabi – Geneva route, effective March 25th 2018.

CICT invests over US $ 10mn towards green infrastructure at Colombo Port

Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) has completed a project to convert the company’s diesel-operated rubber-tyred gantry cranes to electric-powered rubber-tyred gantry cranes or E-RTGs, making a major contribution to efforts by the Port of Colombo to go green.

Emirates partners with Thales for next generation broadband connectivity

Emirates and Thales have signed a new agreement to equip its Boeing 777X fleet with the next generation broadband inflight connectivity using Inmarsat GX global network.

Gulf Air signs aircraft leasing agreement with Dubai Aerospace Enterprise

Gulf Air, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier, and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd (DAE) recently signed an aircraft lease agreement for five Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft that are scheduled to enter the Gulf carrier’s fleet in 2018.

SriLankan and Qantas provide options to connect new Melbourne service

SriLankan Airlines, which last month launched daily non-stop services to Melbourne, is providing its valued passengers with a wide range of options to connect and fly to major cities in Australia and New Zealand, by expanding its codeshare agreement with its long-time partner and fellow Oneworld alliance member Qantas.

Hong Kong Airlines to fly to Maldives on three-time weekly service

Hong Kong Airlines recently announced that it would operate a three-time weekly service to the Maldives from 16  January 2018.

Transworld Feeders kicks off service on Colombo-Chittagong route with Mv. OEL Shasta

Dubai-based Transworld Feeders ceremonially kicked off its newest Feeder service on the Colombo-Chittagong sector with the 1,684 TEU Mv. ‘OEL Shasta’ at the Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) of the Port of Colombo recently.

Ceylon Roots and Browns Tours conduct ‘Role of a Tourist Driver’ programme

The management of Ceylon Roots and Browns Tours in collaboration with the Chauffeur Guide Association of Sri Lanka recently conducted a service briefing programme for selected chauffeur guides and drivers at the Marco Polo Hall in Excel World, Colombo.

Findmyfare excels at South Asian Travel Awards 2017

Sri Lanka’s largest online travel company Findmyfare (Pvt.) Ltd has emerged the winner in multiple categories at the recently concluded South Asian Travel Awards 2017, held at Equator Village in Addu City, Maldives.

Anantaya Resort and Spa Passikudah’s Prabod Gandhi wins Mixology Competition

Demonstrating the resort’s affinity towards finer things in life and the skilled staff that it employs, one of Anantaya Resort and Spa Passikudah’s star mixologists, Welu Kadiragamu Prabod Gandhi triumphed over 15 other mixologists to win the 25th National Mixology Championship organized by Free Lanka Trading.

Aitken Spence Travels partners TUI to bring 12 charter flights from UK

Aitken Spence Travels is attracting the only charter flight operation from the UK to Sri Lanka this season, with 12 flights scheduled to land from November 14th, 2017 to April 30th, 2018.

MHRIL and Ideal Resorts bring Club Mahindra to Sri Lanka

Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Limited (MHRIL), the leisure and hospitality arm of the Mahindra Group, a US$ 19 billion multinational group based in Mumbai, India. Mahindra Holidays is the largest vacation ownership company, outside of the USA, and offers quality family holidays to its members. 

Miththapala to speak at Zagreb Tourism Congress

Past Hotels’ Association of Sri Lanka President Srilal Miththapala has been invited to be the guest speaker at the jubilee celebrations of the Association of Employers in Croatian Hospitality, on November 23 and 24, in Zagreb, to be held at Sheraton Zagreb Hotel.

SLCB conducts MICE promos in China, S’pore, India

The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) is aggressively promoting meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions (MICE) tourism to Sri Lanka with its back-to-back MICE promotions and trade fair participation in China, Singapore and India.

SLITHM ties up with Toastmasters International

In a move that would further raise its profile, the SLITHM has teamed up with Toastmasters International to enable its students to develop speech craft and presentation skills. 

SLITHM looks to raise hospitality training to world-class standards

The tourism authorities are working towards uplifting Sri Lanka’s hospitality training to world-class standards through collaborations with foreign institutions.

Booming informal accommodation sector: Bane or boon of Sri Lanka’s tourism?

The end of the civil conflict in 2009 resulted in significant developments in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. The immediate aftermath saw a short-term, unprecedented twofold growth of tourist arrivals from 438,475 in 2008 to 1,005,605 in 2012, surpassing the milestone of a ‘one million tourist destination’.

INAP 19th symposium concludes on high note

The 19th symposium on International Network of Affiliated Ports (INAP) under the theme, ‘Maritime Co-operation and Economic Prosperity through INAP’ was successfully completed at the Kingsbury Hotel Colombo.

Why liberalise an already liberalised industry?

Numerous pro liberalization articles were of the view that liberalization of the shipping sector would help Sri Lanka become a maritime hub.

Advantis Projects provides solution for power plant relocation to Sudan

Advantis Projects, the project logistics arm of Hayleys Advantis Group, recently relocated the 24MW Lakdhanavai power plant from Sapugaskanda to Nyala, Sudan, a region that has been without electricity for four months.

Walkers hands over ‘Fat Lady’ to Sanken Overseas Maldives

Walkers Colombo Shipyard (Pvt.) Ltd, a subsidiary of MTD Walkers PLC, has successfully completed the construction of ‘Fat Lady’, a landing craft designed and constructed for Sanken Overseas Maldives (Pvt.) Ltd.

Emirates places US$15.1bn order for 40 Boeing 787 Dreamliners

Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, has announced a US$15.1 billion (AED55.4 billion) commitment for 40 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners.

Cathay Pacific provides access to digital newspapers and magazines via PressReader

Cathay Pacific collaborated with PressReader to deliver what passengers value: Thousands of popular digital newspapers and magazines to everyone who flies with Cathay Pacific.

Gulf Air, CFM sign US$1.9bn LEAP-1A engine and services deal

Gulf Air, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier, and CFM International have signed an agreement for the purchase of 58 LEAP-1A engines to power 17 Airbus A321neo and 12 A320neo aircraft and an additional seven spare engines to support the operation.

SriLankan accoladed at Future Travel Experience Asia Awards 2017

SriLankan Airlines was recently accoladed the title of ‘Best Full Service Airline in Central and South Asia’ for the third consecutive year at the Future Travel Experience Asia Awards 2017 in Singapore, an event that recognizes the most customer-centric airlines and airports in Asia and Oceania.

Emirates and flydubai expand partnership, announce new codeshare destinations

Building on the success of the initial phase of their partnership, Emirates and flydubai have announced 16 additional destinations to which Emirates’ passengers will be able travel on a single ticket.