Lanka to host PATA Conference in 2008

by Irangika Range in Malaysia

"Sri Lanka will host the PATA Annual Conference in 2008, in Colombo. This will boost the travel and tourism industry," he said.

Sri Lanka has been working to revive interest in the destination and response to Sri Lanka from the global travel industry is fast recovering from last years' tsunami, said the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Sri Lankan Chapter Chairman and Managing Director of the Mahaweli Reach Hotel Jayantha Panabokke at the closing ceremony of PATA Travel Mart 2005 in Malaysia.

"We are happy to say the local tourism industry is already moving upwards. Tourists are coming back and total tourist arrivals have recorded a 11.7 per cent increase for the first half of this year showing a growth of 362,049 advents.

This is a remarkable growth when compared to the first half of last year. Local hoteliers are involved in individual promotional programmes in various countries while the SLTB, SriLankan Airlines and tourist cluster work actively to promote Sri Lankan missions in other countries to attract more tourist arrivals," Panabokke said.

The Sri Lanka PATA chapter has received added value from the PATA organisation. In addition to the benefits accorded to all PATA members and organisations within the chapter they have increased opportunities to address local issues.

As a PATA member, Sri Lanka has benefited much from the PATA Association to build strategic links between and among PATA members and Asia Pacific travel and tourism stakeholders. "The PATA Foundation has granted US$ 15,000 to Sri Lanka to improve and local hotel and travel sector employees' personality and skills.

The Sri Lanka Chapter donated 400kg of tea to Louisiana with the assistance of the Orange Count Tea PATA Chapter in USA.

They have constructed 15 fifteen houses in tsunami affected Panama and Arugam Bay in collaboration with the Skal International, Colombo.

PATA Advisory Committee, Chairman and Jetwing Hotels Group Managing Director Hiran Cooray said that the PATA Mart is an established event in the travel and tour industry in the world and the response for the PATA was better than what we expected. The response for Sri Lanka was also very positive and this is good, he said.

Most hoteliers are now regearing and developing their products and service following new trends to cater to the world tourist market. We also have an overall tourism plan to develop Sri Lanka as a top tourist destination by 2010. We hope to attract more high-end tourists. The target for 2010 is US$ 100 per tourist per day.

Top food award for Grand Hotel

Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya established in 1806 will receive an award for food from one of the leading up market tour operators from Britain. Saga Holidays has been operating to Sri Lanka since 1996 and have grown by expanding their programme promoting Sri Lanka from sun and sand to nature, adventure and wild life holidays.

A niche market tour operator, Saga Holidays specializes in handling senior citizens and has a repeat client base of over 800.000, who travel with them worldwide.

This accolade was awarded based on a year's customer feedback for consistency and standards maintained on food quality, presentation, variety, hygiene and food temperature. The scoring system ranges from 1.00 - 4.00, 1.00 being excellent and 4.00 being poor. The aim of Saga is to achieve a rate below 1.70 points or lower in all aspects and is chosen from over 1200 hotels worldwide.

The Director General Manager Harin De Costa said that in keeping with the organizational policy, the hotels team of Chefs are being constantly trained and the product had been constantly upgraded to meet the demanding trends, even at times when tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka are very low.

Costa also stated that the hotel is currently upgrading the coffee shop, the main restaurant and the supper club. The menus in all food outlets will also be changed to coincide with the season ahead.

This award will be presented at a special function in conjunction with the World Travel Mart trade fair in Excel World London from 14th to 17th November 2005, which is one of the largest tourism fairs where potential buyers meet from all over the world to do business.

The local handling agent for Saga Holidays in Sri Lanka is United Holidays.

IUF Council formed

A Combined council of Tourist, Hotels, Tourist guides and drivers, food, beverages, tobacco services (IUF) was formed recently.

The council was formed recently with the amalgamation of the IUF (International Union of Food, agricultural, hotel restaurant, catering, tobacco, allied worker's associations in Asia and the Pacific) and CMU (The Ceylon Mercantile. Industrial and General Workers Union) Purpose of forming the council is, to organize and strengthen the employees in the above sectors.

IUF is a strong union which has branches in 124 countries with a membership of 2.8 million. CMU has been in existence for 57 years in Sri Lanka and in majority of establishments here.

The IUF-CMU council was formed recently combing the representatives of the two establishments, during the visit of Comrade Ma Wei Ping, the secretary of the Asia Pacific region of the IUF.

Speaking at the occasion. Comrade Wei Ping said that most of the multi-national companies today try to block their employees organizing themselves, by employing works on contract or casual basis, and that the employees of these sectors, should from themselves against this move internationally.

This move can not be done affectively in Sri Lanka as unions do not have a common cause and some of the unions are selfish. It is therefore very important that employees have to organize themselves to face such situations.

Concept of this council is to bring-together the employees of the above sectors and get organized globally, to face the future. The council insist all employees to joint it, for this common cause.