Fully Fledged Boat Complex in Beruwala with a Seven Star Hotel, Museum, Marina & Aquarium under Evaluation

21st March 2011, www.dailynews.lk, By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

The Fisheries Ministry has been in contact with potential investors to start building the proposed boat complex in Beruwala and evaluating the proposals at present. This complex will be built at a substantial investment, housing a seven star hotel, museum, marina and an aquarium and many more.

This would be a tourist promotion venue where high spenders could be attracted, Boat Building Technology Improvement Institute Managing Director Gamini B Herath told Daily News Business.

The Galle Port development will attract small yachts and will bring in more business from yacht community. With the easing of global recession, there will be substantial growth in this industry.

Sri Lanka should be ready with these services to capture market opportunities where countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore looking at new destinations.

The local boat building industry has been recording regular growth since 2008 while 2010 was an exceptional year for the industry earning an export revenue of Rs 7 billion. As the industry is performing well at present it is estimated that the 2011 revenue would surpass the 2010 figure.

The industry is focusing on new markets and will be looking at countries in the Gulf region and Africa, especially Nigeria and Djibouti. These are lucrative markets and we are concentrating on capturing a bigger share, he said.

“We need to sustain the local boat building industry as it plays a vital role in revenue generation. The market situation is improving and we are confident that better performance in the industry could be seen in coming years,” Herath said.

The industry will also focus on providing human resource training to the personnel of the Dubai Boat building industry.

The recently held Dubai Boat Show was beneficial to Sri Lanka as the country showcased its capabilities at a national pavilion for the first time. There was a lot of enthusiasm among the potential buyers and they showed keenness to source from our country, he said.

“We have yet to estimate how much orders could be secured through this boat show and hopefully expect a positive outcome. A few reputed manufacturers in Dubai mainly interested in super mega yatchs have sought possibilities to train their personnel through Sri Lankan experts. This is a rewarding opportunity for the local boat building industry,” he said.

Related Info :

• Sri Lanka Boat Building Sets a Target of Rs 8bn

• Sri Lanka Stages Boat Show 2010. 24th to 26th April 2010 Event Brings Together Buyers, Manufacturers and Industry Experts

• UAE Sri Lanka Trade to Expand with Unconventional Products at Dubai International Boat Show & Gulfood 2011

• Sri Lanka Boatyard Solas Marine Delivers Trawler for Africa. Plans to Supply Patrol Boats to Indian Navy

Sri Lanka's LOLC Leisure Buys Jetwings Tropical Villas in Beruwala Golden Mile Beach

17th August 2010, www.island.lk

LOLC Leisure, controlled by Lanka Orix Leasing Company PLC has acquired a 60 percent stake, or 6.2 million shares, in Jetwings Tropical Villas beach resort for Rs. 310 million, the company said in a filing with the Colombo Stock Exchange last morning.

"In May this year the LOLC Group made its maiden entry in to the leisure sector by acquiring three hotels namely Palm Garden, Riverina and Eden hotels. With the acquisition of a fourth hotel adjacent to these three, LOLC Leisure limited has now increased its footprint to over 25 acres of prime beach-front land, located on one of the best stretches in the South of the country referred to as the ‘Golden Mile’," the company said.

Quoting Central Bank data, it said the hotels and resorts sector contributed a negative 16.7 percent to the economy during the first quarter of 2009. After the war, the sector made a spectacular recovery to post a 61 percent growth during the first quarter of this year.

"The group is in the process of examining the acquisition of suitable land and conducting studies to launch similar ventures in the East coast of the country," the company said.

Sri Lanka's Beruwela Golden Mile to have Rs 3bn Hotel Project. 300 Room 4 Star Chaaya Bey Hotel

07th August 2010, www.island.lk, by Harischandra Gunaratna

One of the country’s biggest resort hotel projects kicked off yesterday along the `Golden Mile’ on the Beruwela coast when Economic Development and Investment Minister Basil Rajapaksa laid the foundation stone for the three billion rupee Chaaya Bey hotel, a 200-room four-star property on 11 acres of beachfront land.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa later visited the site and examined plans for the luxury property due to be completed in 20 months as its owners, the John Keells Holdings Group, the country’s biggest conglomerate, gears to take advantage of the anticipated tourism boom.

"We are quite excited by the prospects,’’ JKH Chairman Susantha Ratnayake said on site. "The tourism industry is buoyant and we want to capitalize on the opportunity and have committed Rs. 6 billion for new projects – building new properties and refurbishing existing ones.’’

Ratnayake said that JKH has both the organizational and financial capability to seize the unprecedented development opportunities that have opened up, particularly in the leisure industry.

The new hotel is coming up on what was previously the location of Hotel Bayroo that was flattened by the December 2004 tsunami. JKH acquired the adjoining five acres too to build the new hotel whose Rs. 3 billion price tag includes the cost of land acquisition.

Among the new projects in the JKH pipeline is an upmarket hotel at Pulmoddai in the East where the Yan Oya flows into the sea, refurbishing Habarana Lodge into a five-star and expanding Reefcomber at Hikkaduwa to a new look hotel with 154 rooms against the previous 64.

"We are also looking at new developments in the South where there is plenty of scope,’’ Ratnayake said.

JKH Deputy Chairman Ajit Gunawardene said that seafront land in the South is hard to find and the `Golden Mile’ was the most sought location.

"Bey with 200 rooms and an array of restaurants will be a benchmark for quality and class in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry,’’ he promised. "It will play a significant part in bridging the deficit (of quality accommodation) on the Southern coast.’’

Sri Lanka's Aitken Spence to Invest $78mn on Hotels

12th July 2010, www.dailymirror.lk

Sri Lanka's Aitken Spence group is planning to put 78 million US dollars in to the leisure sector after a war ended in Sri Lanka with new hotels in the south western coast being started first, an official said.

"We envisage a post-war investment around 9.0 billion rupees (78 million US dollars) given the opportunities that we have," Aitken Spence director Gehan Perera told a forum organized by Acuity, an investment bank.

A 30-year war which had hamstrung tourism ended in May 2009, and arrivals are up over 40 percent this year. Aiken Spence owns or operates 27 hotels with 2,020 rooms in Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and Oman.

The firm will refurbish and expand a 94-room hotel in Kalutara, formerly known as Golden Sun which it only managed at first but has since taken full control after a Singapore based shareholder sold out.

A hotel in Beruwala is being done up and will be relaunched as Heritance Mahagedera in early 2011 positioned as a 64-room specialized Ayurveda (a traditional South Asian healthcare system) resort.

Its premium hotels, branded Heritance, includes a 5-star resort next to a lake in Kandalama in central Sri Lanka, a former tea factory in the central hills and a beach resort in Ahungalle in the south western coast.

Perera said a 10 acre land next to Heritance Ahungalle was slated for development. Earlier reports have said the group was planning a venture there with the Six Senses leisure group.

"We have another seven acres next to Heritance Mahagedera in Beruwala. This is also under discussion," Perera said.

"In Nilaweli (in north eastern Sri Lanka) we have a little over 100 acres. It is also on the drawing board. We are looking at a fairly integrated development there."

Perera said the group was looking at Yala in the deep south of the country, where a popular national park is located and was also scouting for more opportunities in the north. In addition to Nilaweli it was also looking at more projects in eastern Sri Lanka.

The government recently gave land to developers in Pasikuda and another tourism zone in Kuchchaveli has also been opened.

John Keells to Invest 6BN to Upgrade and Build Hotels in Sri Lanka

22nd November 2009, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lanka's John Keells Holdings is ready to invest nearly 6.0 billion rupees over the next two to three years in upgrading and building new hotels if tourism arrivals pick up after the end of a 30-year war as expected, an official said.

Deputy chairman Ajith Gunewardene said JKH was planning a 190 room hotel in Beruwela on which design work would be finished by next April.

The hotel is expected to cost around 1.7 billion rupees, and will be a 4-star rated hotel coming under the group's mid-market 'Chaaya' brand. Its up market 5-star properties are branded Cinnamon.

JKH has a 10-acre long stretch in Beruwala, after it bought land from Sri Lanka's Confifi group next to an existing property. JKH's Beach Hotel Bayroo, in Beruwala was damaged during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

JKH has already closed its 80 room Club Oceanic Hotel in the Eastern coast of Trincomalee to be refurbished at a cost of 400 million rupees as a 4-star rated property.

Bentota Beach Hotel, would also be refurbished towards the end of next year at cost of 800 million rupees. The 115 room property would be 5-star rated.

"If tourism arrivals increase we will be ready with rooms," Gunewardene told a forum organized by Leopard Capital, a private equity group in Colombo.

"Cambodia saw an exponential growth after unrest ended. Arrivals grew from 557,000 in 200 to 2.1 million in 2008. Sri Lanka had 438,000 tourists last year."

By 2011 JKH would be ready to start a 100 room 5-star hotel at its existing land in Ahungalle. The project may cost 1.6 billion rupees.

It could also build another 4-star 120 room hotel in the East Coast on its existing or acquired property. JKH had access to property in Kuchchaveli as well as in Nilaveli, Gunewardene said.