TRAVEL

Reigning World Beauties to showcase Sri Lanka's Beauty to the World

Miss Germany 2008, 18-year-old Kim-Valerie Voigt is currently touring Sri Lanka along with two other celebrity beauties: Claudia Hein, Reigning 'Beauty of the World' and Carina-Alexandra Nix, Third Runner Up in the 'Miss Germany 2008' pageant. They are here on an initiative of Sri Lanka Tourism and Sri Lanka Tourism's Office in Germany.

Kim was a special invitee to the Sri Lanka stall at the ITB Fair in Berlin last month, where she assisted in presenting Sri Lanka Tourism Travel Awards to the German Tour Operators who promoted destination Sri Lanka.

The invitation to visit Sri Lanka was extended to the German beauty queens by Sri Lanka Tourism Germany during the final event of `Miss Germany 2008' contest which took place in Freiberg, Germany in February 2008 where Sri Lanka was a sponsor.

This visit of the German beauty queens, will future support the marketing campaigns promoting Sri Lanka as an exotic destination, renowned for warm hospitality.

Their first taste of Sri Lanka was an Ayurvedhic treatment at Ayurvedhic Pavillion in Negombo. The other hotels they stayed in were The Beach in Negombo and the Club Hotel Dolphin in Waikkal.

A fashion show organised by the world acclaimed designer Dinesh Chandrasena is also a part of the itinerary where the beauties will make a special appearance. This event was held at Galle Face Hotel on 4 April.

The team will visit Sri Lanka's cultural and natural sites of Sigirya, Minneriya National Park, Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, Peradeniya Botanical Gardens and Little England, Nuwara Eliya along with a visit to Galle. Sri Lanka Tourism will ensure that the beauties and their team will take back wonderful memories of the destination.

HACCP (ISO 22000) for Villa Ocean View

Villa Ocean View, Wadduwa, which was recently refurbished to the highest international standards with an investment of over Rs. 200 million, has been awarded the prestigious HACCP certification for Food Safety Management.

The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a certification accepted by the world body as the most effective system for Food Safety Management. Addressing the staff at a ceremony Chairman Armyne Wirasinha and Senior Group Director of Ocean View Resorts Mr. Peter Lawrence, congratulated the hotel staff for their dedication, commitment to excellence and hard work without which this would not have been a reality: We are one of the first hotels in the Southern coastal belt to be recognised and awarded with HACCP and with a completely redone and equipped kitchen with pre selected specially imported sophisticated equipment combined with ultra modern technology, we are now geared to meet the rapidly increasing demand of tour operators and guests worldwide on food quality, hygiene and safety, he added.

The primary importance of the certification is to ensure that the food provided by the hotel is of the Highest International Food Safety Standards.

Villa Ocean View Hotel is a much sought after property on the southern coastal belt and is a subsidiary of the Sri Lankan conglomerate Ceylon Shipping Lines Ltd. Induruwa Beach Resort, Bentota is the other property owned by the company.

Cinnamon Lodge launches ecological initiative to sell compost bags

In the wake of awareness about the environment over the past few years, many businesses and industries have adopted eco-friendly measures, focusing on recycling, energy efficiency and other areas of conservation.

From reusing paper to giving assistance to environmental activities and agencies, these corporate responsibility measures have spanned the length and breadth of the sphere of conservation, creating a culture where responsibility does not simply stop with educating oneself but also giving the gift of awareness to other stakeholders. The hospitality industry is no exception to this practice, as many hotels and tour operators have embraced eco-tourism.

Against this backdrop, Cinnamon Lodge, Habarana recently launched a simple but original initiative as an environmentally friendly gesture: selling 5 kg and 10 kg packs of compost to both its visitors and guests, as well as those of the neighbouring Chaaya Village, Habarana. Sold at Rs. 100 and Rs. 180 respectively, the compost is made up of the garden waste collected from the two hotels, along with farmyard manure, crop residue, dolomite and top soil, in order to improve its quality.

"The preparation of the compost was started a few years ago", said Sarath Wickremasinghe, Manager, Cinnamon Lodge.

"The idea occurred to us because of the large amount of garden waste collected from the two hotels Cinnamon Lodge and Chaaya Village on a daily basis: around 750kg to 1,000kg of dried leaves each day ! We have the capacity to produce 1,000kg of compost each month."

Two large pits (approximately 20'x 20'x10' in size) were then prepared in which to allow the leaves to decompose.

The dried leaves are left in these pits for a total period of six months. Meanwhile, separate compost pits have been prepared for the purpose of the two hotels and the vegetable plots.

Blue Waters hosts Aurvudu

Locals and foreigners will be able to experience the celebrations and discover the rituals of the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year when Blue Water hosts Aluth Aurvudu.

The event will commence at 10.00 am with the hoisting of the National Flag on April 13 at The Blue Water - Wadduwa.

As in the previous years, foreigners will join the Sri Lankans as one large family to celebrate the event.

The traditional Avurudu games will be the highlight of the event.

Winners of the games will be presented gifts; more appropriately - memorabilia.