Leisure

Gnanam Hotel to add more comforts

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA in Jaffna

Jaffna city has become a bustling town with rapid development activities taking place at present. There are many visitors to explore the beauty of the city, especially from the South since the end of terrorism.

There is a need for accommodation and Gnanam Hotel (Pvt) Ltd offers travellers the convenience to and enjoy their holidays. We started our operations May this year and response from the visitors are encouraging, hotel owner Sankarapillay Kailasapillai told Daily News Business.

Situated at Clock Tower Road Jaffna this 31 room property is well maintained and offers comforts of home away home.

“We have three chefs and 43 staff members to provide a courteous and efficient service. Apart from local visitors we have foreigners too. They are mainly from the INGOs and Indians. There are also repeated clients who are frequent visitors to Jaffna,” he said.

The hotel offers all types of menus ranging from Western to Eastern. Its specialty is the Jaffna menu which includes delicacies typical to Jaffna. The hotel is popular for its food and comfortable facilities where it maintains a reasonable occupancy rate.

“We will further upgrade the property by adding more facilities as we see high growth in the tourism sector. There is increased travel both by foreigners as well as locals and comfortable accommodation has a good market,” he said.

Mahoora Camps win accolade

Sri Lankan Eco and Adventure Tourism company, Eco Team was recently awarded a Certificate of Excellence by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travelers’ guide on the web, which honours top-rated lodging places, restaurants and attractions, on the basis of reviews posted by travelers from across the globe.

“The TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence programme gives exceptional businesses in a variety of different industries around the world, the recognition they deserve,” said Christine Petersen, president of TripAdvisor for Business. “From top-rated restaurants in Boston to top-rated attractions in Barcelona, we want to applaud these businesses for offering TripAdvisor travelers a great customer experience.”

Commenting on being awarded the Certificate, CEO of Eco Team Anuruddha Bandara says, “with the Mahoora luxury tented safari camps we have strived to offer our customers a memorable experience, and our attention to detail has paid dividends.

We are extremely pleased to be the recipient of the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence since this accolade is evidence that our hard work is translating into positive traveller reviews on TripAdvisor.”

The brand Mahoora which is uniquely Sri Lankan is a derivative from the ancient Veddah tribe, the earliest known inhabitants of Sri Lanka. The word Mahoora, comes from the Veddah term Maha Hoora, which meant very very important person (VVIP) or ‘the Great One.’

A fitting name for Eco Team’s Mahoora luxury Tented Safari experience, which blends service fit for royalty with an indigenous touch amidst the real wilderness. The Tents themselves are handmade locally, using the best raw material and luxuriously fitted out to provide absolute comfort.

Each tent has plush wall-to-wall carpeting and includes a living room, bedroom and an en-suite bathroom.

The bedroom has comfortable full sized beds covered in the softest linen. Every little detail, from torches, flashlights and umbrellas to baskets of fresh fruit is taken care of to ensure that the MAHOORA experience is completely hassle free.

The Mahoora Team has qualified, experienced chefs who can rustle up any meal be it gourmet or a simple sandwich, and serve it with panache.

Eden CSR celebrates Tourism Day

Eden Resort and Spa, a member of the LOLC Leisure Group commemorating World Tourism Day held a special educational program for students of the Moragalla Junior School.

This program was aimed at educating the students on the benefits of choosing their careers in the tourism and hospitality industry.

In addition, the hotel took the opportunity to donate Library Books and Computer Accessories fulfilling a much needed requirement of the school.

General Manager of Eden Resort and Spa, Eksath Wijeratne along with other senior managers and members of staff took part in this worthy cause.

As a result, various institutions of this sector, in partnership with government agencies, have launched several programs commemorating the World Tourism Day with a special focus at developing the tourism and hospitality industry of the country. One such program focuses on empowering Sri Lankan youth by encouraging them to consider the hospitality industry as an option for career development.

Traditional Japanese cuisine training programme

Iresha MADHURAKAVINI

Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) with the support of Japan International Cooperation Agent (JICA) under the Tourism Resource Improvement Project (TRIP) conducted a training programme for its lectures and industry specialists on traditional Japan cuisine.

The resource personnel were from a famous Japanese restaurants, known as “Kinobu” in Kyoto, Japan. The programme was conducted in two parts as theory and practical. This helped all the participants to understand the philosophy behind traditional Japanese cuisine and how the geographical location of Japan has influenced in developing Japanese of. The programme brought to light the close relationship between the culture of Japan, the festivals in Japan in relation to Japanese culture. Dr. Suranga de Silva, Director General and lecturers of SLITHM participated for this event.

Maalu Maalu CSR project to open

The Maalu Maalu Resort, Pasikudah in a major Corporate Social Responsibility initiative will be providing a fully equipped Computer Centre to Kalkudah. The centre will open on Saturday.

The Maalu Maalu hotel management with the assistance of well-wishers have invested Rs 8 million for this project.

The facility will have 15 computers and provide learning facilities for 120 children. The hotel management has also decided to provide one dollar from each guest who occupies the hotel thus automatically helping towards its sustainability.

Built on the concept of a traditional Sri Lankan fishing village; or ‘Waadiya’ as it is colloquially termed, the simple eco friendly architecture is inspired by the wooden clad dwellings of a typical fisherman’s hut.

The 40 rooms and adjoining public areas are designed to seamlessly blend with the surrounding environment. NJK