Taj Exotica wins two international certificates

Taj Exotica recently became the first hotel in Sri Lanka to win two prestigious certificates from the Sri Lanka Standard Institution. Winning HACCP certificate of conformity and ISO 14001 has elevated Taj Exotica to an iconic height in Sri Lanka's hospitality trade.

The General Manager of Taj Exotica, Ranjan Stanislaus said that the award changed the positioning of Taj Exotica in the tourism industry.

"HACCP certificate of conformity is awarded for food hygiene, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. Certificate of conformity takes all aspects of the entire process of our food preparation into account, including our suppliers, transportation and storage conditions, utensils as well as the staff and service," he said.

"The ISO 14001 for environmental awareness and management is an essential achievement as we strive for a sustainable and environment friendly hotel," he said. Sri Lanka itself is trying to become a world-class travel destination, and Taj Exotica certainly wants to be known as a part of internationally renowned Taj Group of Hotels, achieving and surpassing world-class service to its guests.

Taj was the first to tie up with SriLankan Airlines and offers promotional packages in UK, France and Germany. "That actually helped us to achieve 90% occupancy, which is excellent and it's a direct result of our rigorous recovery strategy. The Hotel is concentrating on drawing tourists from not only Europe but also from Middle East, China and India".

"Jiva Spa, our own brand will come alive at Taj Exotica in September and it would be a major attraction," he said. It's going to be an innovative approach to relaxation and will embrace the western and oriental philosophies of wellness in its functioning.

"Then there will be the s.h.a.c.k. which is bound to create an exceptional gourmet experience with open dining under the stars beside the sea," he said.

The Orchid Rooms will be ready for the high end clientele, completely refurbished and offering top-notch amenities and Oriental Pavilion will take a new look and feel. "We anticipate business to be normal from winter onwards," he said.

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Leo Burnett finalist at Asian Travel Awards, Singapore

Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. (LBSI) - the Sri Lankan arm of Leo Burnett, the internationally famous advertising agency network - was recently selected as a finalist in the 'Best Hotel Campaign' category at the Asian Travel and Tourism Creative Awards 2005. The agency earned the honour of being the first Sri Lankan organisation to reach this high level of creativity in this regional awards show.

This print ad created for the Italian restaurant, Il Ponte, at the Colombo Hilton also won a gold award at the SLIM Awards 2005, in the Print section in the Entertainment and Leisure category. This was one of the 12 gold awards that the agency won in the grand total of 33 awards that the agency walked away with at SLIM this year.

This campaign will also be exhibited in Singapore and other cities, along with the other pieces reaching the Finalists stage. There will also be a special supplement of AdAsia magazine and its website to showcase the winning entries.

The Asian Travel and Tourism Creative Awards is a regional awards show organised by Ad Asia magazine - the leading monthly publication for the advertising, marketing and media industry.

The publisher which already produces the successful Singapore Outdoor Awards now takes its expertise into travel related communications. The show features gold, silver and bronze awards, judged by regional and international judges, which are given to entries that are creatively outstanding.

Its goal is to reward talented creative people as well as receptive and courageous clients while encouraging higher standards and effectiveness of communication.

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Next Sri Lanka buys Sri Lanka's first colour copier from Metropolitan

NSL is the souring arm of Next Plc a successful fashion retailer with over 400 stores in UK. With a staff strength of 270 and a manufacturing base of almost 60 factories, NSL Sri Lanka ship an average of 2 million garments a month to Next UK. The product portfolio consts of Mens, Ladies and kids wear in both woven and jersey fabrics.

We receive hundreds of design sketches and coloured artworks every week to be developed into garments for Next. Several different parties are involved in developing a sample - from our own office to factory sample rooms, printing plants, embroidery plants and laundries - all of whom need copies of the design sketch and artwork to ensure the designs and colours are interpreted correctly.

Before installing the colour photocopier, all these companies would have had to share one coloured artwork between them, which meant that the time taken to develop a print or embroidery was at least doubled. Worse still, some would have to try to cope with a black and white copy, which could lead to mistakes.

"Now that we have the colour photocopier, we can ensure that every party within the development process has a good quality, scale copy of the original artwork resulting in a more accurate interpretation, a quicker development time and eventually better samples.

This will in turn improve our service to Next and potentially grow our business in Sri Lanka" Director/ General Manager of Next Souring Chanaka Perera said.

Colour copiers are now an intrinsic part of a fashion retailer's office facilities and are essential in communicating clear coloured images effectively throughout the business. This investment will bring our office into line with the Next Head Office in the UK and other Next Souring offices around the world.

Having introduced many a first to the copier industry in Sri Lanka, Metropolitan looks to provide the best in technology and is now the first to introduce the colour copier to Sri Lanka.

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Tourism maintains 8% growth in first quarter

Madrid - Worldwide tourism results for 2005 show a continuation of the overall positive trend of 2004, with international tourist arrivals growing on average by eight per cent in the first four months, according to the recently released June edition of the WTO World Tourism Barometer.

Although the excellent pace of growth of 2004 was expected to slow down gradually, for the moment rates are very similar to those seen in the second half of 2004, a year in which international tourist arrivals grew by more than 10% to an all-time record of 763 million.

The first few months thus indicate that 2005 is shaping up as a year of continued recovery from the various shocks felt in the 2001-2003 period. A factor that should not be overlooked in this recovery is the stimulating effect of "tempting" offers made available by online travel services including low-cost airlines.

WTO Chief of Market Intelligence and Promotion, Augusto Huescar comments: "the geopolitical climate, the persistent weak economy and SARS have constrained tourism seriously in previous years and have left a significant amount of pent-up demand in the market. People are regaining the lust for travel and feel that the moment is appropriate to make the trips they postponed in the past years.

Asia and the Pacific grew by almost 9% after the excellent results in 2004 (+28%) with overall figures only marginally affected by the tsunami disaster (a Tsunami Impact Update is available in the full version of the June WTO World Tourism Barometer), whereas Europe (+5%), which weathered the 2001-2003 downturn rather well, maintained last year's positive trend.

For January 2005 growth of worldwide international tourist arrivals is estimated at 9% compared to the same month of the previous year. In February, arrivals increased by 4%, but it should be taken into account that 2004 was a leap year and February had one day more, representing some 3% to 4% of the monthly total. In March, arrivals jumped by 15% boosted by the fact that the Easter holidays fell in March this year and not in April as in 2004.

Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and Africa are expected to continue to post strong results.