Travel

Chaaya BLU blossoms with eastern resurgence

Chaaya BLU Trincomalee will establish an international spa to facilitate the large number of tourist arrivals in the east coast of Sri Lanka.

Chaaya BLU Trincomalee General Manager Ravi Fernando said there is a significant increase in both local and foreign tourist arrivals to the east coast.

In Trincomalee tourism has started reviving and it is connecting a large number of people in the area to the economic activities in the country.

"Soon after the refurbishment of Chaaya BLU Trincomalee we received a good response from local and foreign tourists. "We experience a 100 percent occupancy rate during weekends and the hotel has introduced several activities to facilitate these guests, he said. The new international spa is the latest facility that Chaaya BLU is hoping to introduce.

Within the next four months we expect to commence operations on this, he said.

Dolphin watching and whale watching, snorkelling and diving are some of the activities the hotel offers to guests.

The hotel has well trained divers and staff to assist guests with the latest equipment. The hotel is also looking at possibilities of arranging aerial tours for dolphin and whale watching.

The hotel also organized excursions to the Koneswaram temple, Fort Fredricks, Pigeon Island and villages around the hotel to give tourists a chance to discover Trincomalee. Beach parties and beach BBQs are other activaties on the cards.

Talking about the infrastructure development in the Trincomalee area Fernando said there is a rapid improvement in the road network and other infrastructure facilities which will heavily contribute to more tourist arrivals in the east coast.

Chaaya BLU Trincomalee which belongs to Chaaya Hotels and Resorts has 36 beach chalets, 43 superior rooms and two suites. Captain's Deck, The Crab and The Rum Hold are three restaurants of the hotel.

Pyxle develops Chinese Dragon Cafe website

Chinese Dragon Cafe (CDC) recently launched its official website with an online ordering system for the convenience of its customers and to improve sales delivery. This complete eCommerce website was designed and developed by software solutions company Pyxle.

The new website solution was initiated in partial fulfillment of the restaurants' re-branding and expansion program which was rolled-out six months ago.

Chinese Dragon Cafe is one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Sri Lanka servicing customers for over half a century. This family owned restaurant opened up its first branch down Galle road in 1942.

Due to its rapid growth and expansion program put in place, CDC has branched off in two other locations in the Colombo Metropolitan area.

Two more outlets will be opened in the suburbs in the City Capital with the aims to increase the number of outlets and the customer portfolio.

Chinese Dragon Cafe Director Miriam Solomons said "Our business objective lies in providing the best for the customers taste. With more than 60 years of experience in the Sri Lankan restaurant industry, Chinese Dragon Cafe is well versed with the growing trends of the appetizers/food that customers look for. Pyxle has perfectly met this objective and tastefully designed our website to suit the authentic cuisines that we serve."

Pyxle Presantha Jayamaha, Managing Director said, they are pleased to have designed and developed this eCommerce site for Chinese Dragon within the tight delivery schedule and technology requirement. For Chinese Dragon Cafe, we proposed a social media integrated CMS with a sophisticated shopping cart where users could browse the menu, place orders online, pick favourites, suggest menu items to friends or get suggestions, request special orders, manage invoices and many other features.

Dubai opens new cargo airport

Dubai Airports paved the way for the successful opening of Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International for cargo operations on June 27. The new airport passed a series of operational tests conducted during its first live flight yesterday.

This is an important milestone, not only for the airports certification process, but as another step towards achieving Dubai's vision to become the pre-eminent centre for aviation worldwide, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority President and Dubai Airports Chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum said.

It's also a testament to the cooperation and dedication of all of the organisations and stakeholders involved, who have done an impressive job of building and preparing Phase one of the facility for launch in a very short time frame.

Phase one of the airport will feature one A380 capable runway, 64 remote stands, one cargo terminal with annual capacity for 250,000 tonnes of cargo and a passenger terminal building designed to accommodate five million passengers per year.

When completed, Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International will be the largest airport in the world with five runways, four terminal buildings and capacity for 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo.