Paradise Earth Suite Huts to invest Rs 150 m:
Farm stay agro tourism
Charumini DE SILVA
Paradise Earth Suite Huts a subsidiary of PJ Hotels will initiate a
novel concept to the tourism and hotel industry with the farm
accommodation project in Vakarai.
It will be one of the first Sri Lankan agro-tourism projects to
commence in the post war area.
Prasanna Jayewardene |
The Paradise Earth Suite Huts targets to accommodate 250. They are
designed in an eco-friendly manner and will enable tourists to
experience natural habits early next year for the season in the Eastern
coast. Each set of suites will be simple though large and built with
eco-friendly material, PJ Group Chairman Prasanna Jayewardene told Daily
News Business.
The initial investment of the Paradise Earth Suite Huts is Rs 150
million. The company is targeting a total investment of Rs one billion
with the completion of the entire project in 2012. The funding of the
entire project is from the Group and its associates.
The work and management is entirely done by local residents in the
area. “The food will be prepared in local specialties using only organic
farm products and there will be no livestock to ensure the eco-friendly
concept. The services will be outsourced to offer a chance to the people
in the area so that they will also get an opportunity to perform. Our
business is community based. We expect the community to grow with the
business, which is a practical way of corporate social responsibility
(CSR),” Jayewardene said.
The landscape of the premises will be done with all organic
commercial plants such as bananas, pineapples and many others.
The employees working in the farm will get a monthly allowance with a
percentage of the harvest. Jayewardene said the project will help to
expand the Gross Domestic Production (GDP), foreign exchange earnings,
developments in the area, job opportunities and as a result the per
capita income will also grow substantially.
“One of the best kept secrets in Sri Lanka are the beautiful beaches.
The Vakarai Beach is special as it was untapped for 30 years. It is
timely that we highlight new concepts, such as eco-tourism, agri-tourism,
adventure tourism, beaches, surfing, snorkelling, kites, mountains,
wildlife, ancient city exploring, religious backgrounds, cultural
events, ayurvedic medicaments, food and shopping,” he said. |