Laugfs Leisure Looks for Hotels on Aggressive Five Year Plan

11th April 2011, www.lankabusinessonline.com, By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

Laugfs Leisure is looking forward to take over the management or to buy hotels. It has a five year plan to aggressively enter the leisure sector by building hotels in the Cultural Triangle and in attractive locations in South coast and East coast.

The first hotel to be constructed by the Laugfs Group at a cost of Rs 500 million investment is expected to complete construction by June next year.

The construction of the hotel in Karugapam in Chilaw by Laugfs Leisure is currently under way.

“We have already started the project and the ground filling work is carried out at present. The hotel is scheduled to be completed by mid next year”, Laugfs Leisure CEO and Director Harsha Gamage told Daily News Business.

The foundation laying ceremony will be held next month. This 74 room hotel falls under the category of a small luxury hotel.

There will be an expansion to this by way of another 26 rooms in the second stage,” he said. “We see a growth in the leisure sector especially with foreign tourist arrivals. There is a need for accommodation and projects of this nature could cater to the growing demand in the industry,” Gamage said.

The Laugfs Group entered into the leisure sector in 2008 by purchasing Emerald Bay in Kosgoda and a boutique hotel Temple Tree Resort and Spa. The two hotels have recorded an increase in arrivals since its takeover.

The two hotels have recorded 50 percent growth from previous year and a turnover growth of 41 percent. Both hotels are doing well. The off season prospects are looking bright. Even for the off season there is 75 percent confirmed bookings. During the season they had recorded over 85 percent occupancy since 2009 September.

Related Info :

• Sri Lanka's Laugfs Builds a 4 Star Hotel in Chilaw

Mahindra & Mahindra for Leisure & Finance Investments in Sri Lanka

18th August 2010, www.bloomberg.com

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India’s largest maker of sport-utility vehicles, may provide auto loans and set up resorts in Sri Lanka as the island’s economy recovers after the end of a civil war.

“There are huge opportunities,” Vice Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra said in the capital Colombo today. Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. may provide auto loans and also lend for rural housing, the company said in a statement.

Officials of the group, which owns software-services providers, runs resorts, and provides loans for purchase of SUVs in India, will separately return to Sri Lanka for meetings to set up the businesses, Mahindra said. Last week, Mahindra was named as the preferred bidder for a South Korean automaker, as the Mumbai-based company aims to expand its overseas business.

The group also plans to expand tractor sales in Sri Lanka and is gauging investment opportunities in property development and economic zones, he said. Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd. may set up projects as more Indians visit the island, according to the statement.

The end of Sri Lanka’s 26-year war in May 2009 has lured back tourists to the teardrop-shaped island and helped the South Asian nation’s benchmark index climb 60 percent this year, the best performance among the Asia-Pacific region’s 16 biggest markets. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government is aiming to accelerate economic growth to 7 percent in 2010, the fastest pace since 2006.

The Mumbai-based automaker was named preferred bidder for a controlling stake in Ssangyong Motor Co.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anusha Ondaatjie in Colombo at anushao@bloomberg.net

Sri Lanka Leisure Sector Attracts more FDI. Telecoms and Power to Get only 40%

08th April 2010, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Telecom and power sectors which accounted for 65 percent of foreign direct investment to Sri Lanka in recent years will play a less dominant role as cash pours into leisure with an upturn in tourism, an official said.

In the first quarter of this year around 250 million US dollars have come as foreign direct investments (FDI) compared to 602 million for the whole of last year, Board of Investment chief Dammika Perera said.

"In the past telecoms and power sector contributed around 60 percent of FDI, while 40 percent came from other sectors," Perera told reporters in Colombo.

"In the future the telecoms and power sectors will come down to around 40 percent."

With a pick up in tourism after a 30-year war ended last year, more cash is expected to pour into the sector.

Leisure firm have started to expand to increase capacity and about 200 million dollars in investment commitments are expected soon, Perera said.

Private power plants supplying the state-run Ceylon Electricity Board have invested 73.6 billion rupees through and generate about 40 percent of the country's power need, BOI deputy director general A M C Kulasekera said.

There are 18 telecommunication service providers that have invested 194.6 billion rupees, Kulasekera said.