Grigson heads SLAITO

ELECTED: The 26th Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) was held recently at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce with the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka at the Mount Lavinia Hotel and Dirk Grigson of Hemtours was elected as President.

Nilmin Nanayakkara of NKar Travels and Tours was elected as Vice President.

Suresh Murugaser of United Holidays was elected as Secretary and Gulam Abdulhussein of Pan Lanka Travels and Tours was re-elected as Treasurer.

SLAITO is the apex body for inbound tourism and the membership of SLAITO consists of Destination Management Companies.

The main objectives of SLAITO are to promote and foster the rapid and long-term growth of tourism by providing and maintaining a high standard of excellence in the services provided for the comfort and convenience of the tourist, to establish and maintain good cordial relations with the government, international travel organisations and all other bodies whether corporate, partners or individuals for the advancement of tourism in Sri Lanka and to take all steps as deemed necessary to protect and further the interests of the members of the Association, who are an indispensable arm of the Tourism Industry.

SLAITO Committee for the year 2006 / 2007are: Gehan M Perera, Aitken Spence Travels, Mahen Kariyawasan, Andrew The Travel Co., T M F Packeer, Asian Exotica, Chandra Wickremasinghe, Connaissance Holdings, Wansa Hettiarachchi, Crystal Holidays, Tony Mantara, Gemini Tours & Travels, Shiromal Cooray, Jetwing Travels, Imran Hassan, Lanka Exhibition and Conference Services, Thilak Weerasinghe, Lanka Sportsreisen and Ramesh Dassanayake, Sunway Holidays.

Vasantha Leelananda of Walkers will join the Committee in his capacity as the Immediate Past President.