Global Towers apartments to commence second phase

WITH the success of the Phase I of Global Towers Apartment Complex and hotel, promoter Phylix Selvadurai and his group of investors, will be launching Phase II of Global Towers.

In June 2002, the company commenced construction work of the Apartment Complex and completed the 56 apartments in July 2004 with an investment of Rs. 1.6 billion.

The Company has already purchased land in an extent of 73 perches next to the existing Global Towers and has finalised the purchase of another 29 perch block adjoining this new land to construct the second Tower on a total extent of 102 perches," Selvadurai said.

Eventually, both towers would be amalgamated so that the towers would appear and operate as a twin-tower hotel with 450 rooms in total.

The proposed Global Towers Phase II would be a mixed development with a slightly different concept from that of the existing Global Towers, which was mainly a luxury apartment hotel for investment buyers.

Planning approval has been obtained to construct 14 floors in the new development.

This development would include 104 hotel rooms and 5 floors of common areas with a specialty restaurant, and "first-time-in-Sri-Lanka" A Revolving restaurant, Conference Hall, Business Centre and on the rooftop spa, swimming pool and health centre which would comprise the investment of Global Investment Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.

Two floors of car parking facilities would be available for the guests and the common areas of the Tower Phase II which would feature a Banqueting Hall to cater for approximately 1,000 persons.

The complex will also include 5 two-bedroom suites, 60 luxury one-bed room executive suites, and on the top floor 6 penthouses which would be for "buy to let" investors, thereby providing an opportunity for the buyers to lease back their apartments to the Company. This would, in turn, enable the company to operate the development as a star class, luxury hotel.

Board of Directors comprise Ajith Nivard Cabraal, a Management Consultant, M. Shanthikumar, Hotelier and Director/Operations of Holiday Inn, and Ravi Santiagopillai, Management Accountant, among others. With the introduction of a Saturday night disco, the youth are also now being attracted to this luxurious hotel.

Colombo Plaza hosts Oktoberfest again

THE Colombo Plaza will for the second time host Germany's most popular festival 'Oktoberfest' from September 29th to October 8th from 7.00 p.m. onwards at the Tea Lounge Garden.

The Munich Oktoberfest - known by the locals as the 'Wiesn,', is believed to be the biggest public festival in the world and, this year's celebrations will mark 172 years of tradition and feasting!

The Munich Oktoberfest, is attended by around 6 million visitors a year, who drink more than 5 million litres of beer and consume over 200,000 sausages-mostly in the beer tents put up by the traditional Munich breweries.

The Colombo Plaza, will recreate the fun and feasting of this festival for the second consecutive year with all the traditions associated with the event.

Oktoberfest food, 20 typical German dishes, beer, fruity flavoured spirits and a Bavarian band are especially flown in from Munich and will be part of the Colombo Plaza's Oktoberfest celebrations this month.

The mega event is being held in association with Etihad Airways - the National Carrier of the United Arab Emirates, Carlesberg - the fifth largest brewer in the world, and Keells - Sri Lanka's leading processed meat manufacturers. MTV is the official media sponsor.

This year's festival will bring a piece of the Munich Oktoberfest at its best with the Colombo Plaza together with the special sponsors recreating this popular festival in true German style.

In addition an array of competitions during the festival will enable patrons to win some prizes.

Hotel show in July

BY A. G. PIYADASA

HOTEL SHOW 2006 organised by Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association (CHSGA) and Lanka Exhibition and Conference Services (Pvt) Ltd will be held from 14 to 16 July at BMICH.

Sri Lanka Convention Bureau President Farook Hussain said that this event would be market in Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, Australia, China and Europe. "We will also attract buyers from Maldives and South India," he said.

Hussain also said they would host similar shows in Maldives and India.

This will no doubt enhance Sri Lanka's image as a MICE destination like the ones that take place in countries such as Singapore and Dubai.

The Food & Hotel Asia exhibition in Singapore attracts over 15,000 international buyers & over 2500 exhibitor companies represented by about 10,000 people. This event alone will attracts about 20000-25000 foreign visitors to the countries" he said.

Tourism in Sri Lanka continued its growth momentum and reached a new peak of 566,202 arrivals (2004) registering an increase of 13.1 per cent as compared to the previous year's figure of 500,642 arrivals.

Foreign exchange (FE) Receipts (earnings) from tourism in Sri Lanka increased at a rapid rate of 28.2 per cent to Rs. 42,058.6 million (US$ 416 mn) in 2004, in comparison to Rs. 32,810 million (US 340 mn) recorded in 2003.

Employment generated in the tourism sector (both direct and indirect) increased by 15.0 per cent to 129,062 in 2004.

Tourism ranked as the fourth largest earner of FE in 2004 (Rs. 42.1 billion), next to Textiles and Garments (Rs. 268.6 billion), Private Foreign Remittances (Rs. 158.3 million) and Tea (Rs. 74.9 million).

For the first time, two individual markets surpassed the 100,000 mark in tourist arrivals, namely the UK (106,645) and India (105,151).

Pakistan Tourism grows by 10 percent

THE World Travel and Tourism Council expects travel and tourism demand in Pakistan to grow by 10 per cent in 2005 and by 6.5 per cent per annum between 2006 and 2015

Abacus International, Asia-Pacifics leading travel facilitator, announced that size bookings on the Abacus system for Pakistan for 2005 are set to more than triple those recorded in 2004.

In the first half of 2005, Pakistan (Free Individual Traveller) FIT bookings on the Abacus system increased 299 per cent over the same period in 2004. "This is a very exciting time for Pakistan's travel industry," said Kenneth Low lang, Vice President South Asia of Abacus International.

The combination of rising consumer incomes, travel liberalisation gathering pace and leisure travel becoming increasingly affordable, means that Pakistan is a market with incredible potential.

The World Travel and Tourism Council expects travel and tourism demand in Pakistan to grow 6.9 per cent between 2004 and 2014.

However, it is critical that the industry keeps pace with this new travel environment. Abacus has an important role to play in ensuring the industry not only understands the new travel landscape, but implements strategies and technologies