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| Tuesday, 2 March 2004 |
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Rs. 20 million facelift for Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya by Shirajiv Sirimane Tangerine Tours invested Rs. 20 million to renovate the Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya entrance. The management has also invested Rs. 125 million to construct a 65-room new wing, which include three presidential and one junior suite. According to Gerard Ondaatjie, Managing Director, Grand Hotel they had maintained good growth throughout the year and are expecting a profit of over Rs. 40 million at the end of the financial year. "We had 75 per cent occupancy for January and this was encouraging," he said. The peace initiative has had good impact on the industry and this year they are expecting even better financial gains. Nuwara Eliya should be promoted more aggressively as a destination. The hotel has taken the imitative and conducts an annual international golf tournament. He said that the authorities should market Sri Lanka especially in Australia and New Zealand since their winter season is from June and it is off-season in Sri Lanka. He said Australians demand quality accommodation and facilities and Sri Lanka is geared to meet this demand. The authorities must try to develop the railway and an additional track to Nuwara Eliya can cut down the transport time by almost half. He said that they invested on their approach mainly to give a facelift to the hotel. "We invested on new fabrics from Italy, premium quality furniture and redid the roof retaining the colonial touch." He said the newly built Golf wing has a supper club, sports centre and other facilities to attract premium clientele. Most tourists to Nuwara Eliya are on a round trip stay and their clientele are from the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. In addition to the locals there is a steady increase in Indian arrivals as well. The Grand Hotel entrance would be officially opened on March 5. The Grand Hotel with 196 rooms has a 196 member staff. Tangerine Tours also own and operate Nilaweli Beach Hotel Trincomalee, Royal Palms and Tangerine Hotel in Kalutara. |
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