Business Travel

Villas over the ocean provide stunning panoramic views:

Chaaya Hotels and Resorts relaunches new hotels in Maldives

With the launch of Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo and Chaaya Island Dhonveli in the Maldives on the January 13 and 14 Chaaya Hotels and Resorts continues on its journey of expanding its brand of hotels.

Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo which has been completely refurbished is now a 112 villa style resort in the Ari Atoll. The addition of the new over-water villas built over the tranquil ocean providing stunning panoramic views further enhances the travellers’ choice of beautifully designed accommodation.

The location of the Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo is world renowned as a popular destination for dive enthusiasts in search of sunken ship wrecks. Discover an underwater world in amazing colours with the teeming omnipresent aquatic life between the unbelievable coral.

Chaaya Island Dhonveli is an island -hop-away from the capital Male, located ideally for those who would like to start their holiday in the tropics immediately.

Boasting of 136 villas and bungalows apart from 24 colourful over water suites fully refurbished that embrace comforts fulfilling international standards.

Chaaya Island Dhonveli is the beacon for surfers who come from far and wide seeking the pounding surf at Pasta Point.

For those who prefer to indulge with less adrenaline, the resort offers a fantastic choice of dinning options. Five restaurants offering feasts of fresh seafood, fusion, international and local fare. Dining on the beach, BBQ’s under the stars and romantic candle lit dinners on a Dhoni are some of the choices.

Three well designed bars that serve your favourite choice of beverage let you enjoy your everyday on the island with live music for dancing at night, making your holiday infinite. Both hotels epitomise the spirit of Chaaya by delivering the brand promise of “One Journey, Many Paths” with its experience packages that showcase the hotel, the arts, culture, cuisine and locality.

SriLankan Holidays to cruise in Goa

Goa will come alive this February as three days and three nights of non-stop colour, music and dance takeover the Indian costal state.

The Goa Carnival scheduled to be held between February 15th and the 18th is a tradition dating back to the Portuguese reign, celebrating the fun loving spirit of the state and its people.

All over Goa, the streets gyrate to the pulsating sound of drums and the swinging melody of an unending orchestra trumpeting throughout the night.

Adding colour to the musical procession, elaborate and colourful floats depicting famous lullabies and nursery rhymes join the parade.

“There are no spectators at the Goa Carnival, everyone is a part of it, either singing, dancing, parading in the processions, monkeying around or smearing each other with coloured dyes, it’s all about having fun,” SriLankan Holidays General Manager, Amith Sumanapala said.

“The whole of Goa just turns into a huge non-stop party and locals and visitors get so involved in the festivities that three days seem too little.”

Livening up the festivities further will be the fireworks displays, children’s musical orchestra, people funny costumes, fortune tellers and competitions that will ensure visitors keep up late into the night.

SriLankan Holidays has introduced an irresistible four days three nights offer reasonable rates per person on twin sharing basis, inclusive of airfare, hotel accommodation, airport transfers and unlimited fun.

Horse riding to enthuse more French tourists

Heritage Expediciones together with Absolu Voyages / Randocheval in France and Premadasa Horse Riding School is to introduce to Sri Lanka horse riding enthusiasts from France in a novel form of high-end tourism.

The Premadasa Riding School is currently the only specialist in riding holidays in Sri Lanka with a stable of more than 30 horses - Marwari, Thoroughbred, and cross breeds.

Absolu Voyages who promotes horse-riding vacations through Randocheval found Sri Lanka to be an ideal destination for horse riding. Director Sri Lanka Tourist Board in Paris Ruvan de Alwis, played a key role in promoting this new form of tourism to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is the newest destination for Randocheval and will be featured in their brochure along with Mongolia, Kyrgysztan, Indonesia, and India.

The first batch of horse riding enthusiasts accompanied by Managing Director of Randocheval Sabine Grataloup, is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on January 28.

During 13 days tour of Sri Lanka, 07 days of horse riding combined with opportunities are offered to explore the magnificence of the island; it’s friendly people and warm hospitality.

Accommodation for enthusiasts are provided at Heritance Kandalama, Earl’s Regency, in Kandy, The Grand in Nuwara Eliya, Ella Adventure Park, Ella, and Taj Exotica in Bentota.

Heritage Expediciones is to be associated in bringing this novel form of high-end tourism to Sri Lanka. More details could be obtaiend from thier web sit, www.heritage.lk

Asian airports best for travellers

Travellers wanting to avoid flight delays should head to Japan and South Korea according to Forbes.com, which rated Asian airports as the best in the world for on-time departures.

Six of Japan’s airports figured in the US website’s top 10 for on-time departures, with Osaka Itami International airport emerging as the world’s most efficient airport with 97 percent of flights leaving on time in 2007.

Tokyo’s Haneda airport, which handled 66 million passengers last year, came second with only seven percent of flights taking off late. Osaka Itami also fared well for arrivals, with just eight percent of its flights landing late in 2007.

Birdflu no threat to Indian tourism

The outbreak of bird flu in Birbhum district of West Bengal has not posed any threat to tourism in India, Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni said. She said West Bengal government, Union Home and Tourism Ministries had taken effective steps to control the disease. All the state governments have been instructed to find ways and means to control bird flu, said Soni.

PTI