[LEISURE]

New rest house opens in Ja-Ela

Nipuna Pathirana

The 'New Rest House Ja-Ela' was opened at a total investment of Rs. 750 billion, under the direction of Urban Development Authority.

It was ceremonially declared open with the invitation of Chairman and the Board of Directors, Harvis International (Pvt) Ltd recently. Guests of honour were Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Senior Minister Felix Perera, Minister of Higher Education, S. B. Dissanayaka, Deputy Minister of Petroleum Industries, Sarana Gunawardena and Chairman, Ja-Ela Pradeshiya Sabha, Lalith Nishantha Abeywickrama.

The 'New Rest House Ja-Ela' has been specially built with all luxury amenities. The Royal Princess Banquet, which is the main wedding hall, was designed with most of its resources being imported from overseas. Upul Jayaratna, Chairman, of the 'New Rest House Ja-Ela' is proud in establishing his fourth rest house, in the town of Ja-Ela.

He is the owner of the Royal Queens Banquet in Wattala, Hotel Royal Park in Kiribathgoda and the bungalow which was upgraded and introduced as Royal Rest House in Peradeniya.

“I strongly believe in creating an attractive surrounding with ample parking space and having well trained staff is the best customer service that we can provide to our potential customers and the people in Ja-Ela. I am glad to have opened the fourth rest house here, in Ja-Ela, offering the public the opportunity to hold weddings and parties to suit their affordability,” Jayaratna said.

“It is a matter to rejoice over when I noticed that the land that was acquired for this venture was a wasteland that was left out and abandoned but now, after the completion of the project, it will be a good platform for the future development of the area of Ja-Ela,” S.B Dissanayaka said.

“Nowadays, people tend to hold wedding ceremonies in luxury hotels like Galadari or Cinnamon Grand, and so, in order to attend a function or to hold one, they would have to travel all the way to Colombo but now people in Ja-Ela have the chance of facilitating this rest house,” he added further.

The inflow of tourists into Sri Lanka is getting higher and for more developments, there should be a well managed and running source of rest houses while the hotel chain is increasing rapidly. The rest house facilitates two banquet halls, two restaurants and 35 rooms.

There is ongoing construction of some rooms and the swimming pool and will be over in a very short period of time. The rest house is open for both foreign and locals to experience a luxury lifestyle and to be treated as royals. Within the next two months, the website will be launched.

Ja-Ela was chosen to establish this rest house due to the fast development running within the town and the high percentage of tourism that is being attracted towards Ja-Ela, which is in close proximity to the Katunayaka Airport and Meegamuwa.

The interior of the wedding hall is been constructed with all the latest expensive trend of wall lamps, ceiling lamps, carpets, curtains, sculptures and other electric accessories.

The staff have been trained well in the hospitality side and in a way this new feature will also attract more tourism to the area and will also attract attention towards the new shopping mall that is being under construction in Ja-Ela and the Reality complex in Ja-Ela.

Warsaw welcomes Emirates

With its inaugural service into Poland just around the corner Emirates recently kicked off its launch activities, giving the local Polish travel trade a preview of the airline’s award winning hospitality.

Over 500 guests from the business and travel trade community were welcomed by Emirates at The Palace of Culture and Science and Congress Hall where they were entertained by a live band and treated to a sumptuous buffet dinner. Guests also were given the chance to see elements of the airline's flagship A380 aircraft with a replica First Class Private Suite on display.

Commencing operations from February 6, Warsaw will be Emirates’ first destination in Poland and 129th destination in the airline’s global network. Warsaw will operate as a daily service with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft and will be the first international airline to offer First Class in Poland.

“Warsaw will be the first new route for Emirates in 2013 and our preparations for launch are currently in full swing,” said Richard Jewsbury, Emirates Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Europe and Russian Federation. “With less than a month to go we are ramping up our activities on the ground in Warsaw and around our global network, in order to increase tourism flows in both directions.”

Earlier in the day the local Polish media met with Emirates executives to learn more about preparations for Emirates’ launch into Poland. Present at the press conference was Richard Jewsbury, Volker Greiner, Emirates Vice President North and Central Europe and Maciej Pyrka, Emirates Country Manager Poland.

AFP

Britain's TUI to merge with Germany's TUI

TUI Travel, Europe's biggest tour operator, announced on Wednesday that it was in merger talks with German tourism giant TUI, which already owns more than half of the London-listed firm.

“The independent directors of TUI Travel are aware of recent speculation and are making this announcement in the interests of market clarity,” TUI Travel said in a brief statement.

“The independent directors of TUI Travel have recently received an approach from TUI AG which may or may not result in a combination of the two companies.

“Discussions are at a very early stage, but are on the basis that any such combination, if effected, would be achieved not by a reverse takeover but by means of a nil premium all-share merger,” it added.

AFP

Rs 250 mn Sunhill Hotel Seeduwa opens

M F Jabir

Sunhill Hotel Seeduwa was ceremoniously opened for business on Saturday.

The Rs 250 million luxury hotel is tipped to penetrate the transit clientele base and benefit vastly from the Colombo Katunayake Expressway which is scheduled to be opened this year.

The hotel situated close to the Katunayake International Airport and Colombo Katunayake Expressway is a two star five storeyed complex with state- of- the- art modern luxuries. Chairman Wasantha Perera said this property was the third hotel of the Sunhill Hotel Chain. Sunhill Hotel Seeduwa consists of 25 luxury A/C rooms with a banquet hall that could accommodate 300 guests and a top conference room with a 100 pax capacity.

In addition the hotel would comprise a state of the art spa, restaurant and children’s park.

The Sunhill Group of companies celebrated its 20th anniversary last year as a key player in leisure, entertainment, and hospitality industries.