To capitalize on growing tourism arrivals and to capture niche market travellers ‘Uga Resorts’ recently rebranded its product as ‘Uga Escapes’ and announced the company expansion plans to the Southern and Central provinces and the opening of its third resort.
‘Uga Escapes’ Managing Director Priyanjith Weerasooriya told journalists in Colombo that the company, which operates two small scale resorts in the Cultural Triangle and Kuchchavali, would launch its third in Passekudha at the end of this month.
He said that the company which focuses on strengthening its room capacity was eyeing the Southern and Central Provinces as well.
According to him, the Southern resort would be located between Hikkaduwa and Tangalle, while the resort planned for the Central Province would be located in Kandy or Nuwara Eliya.
The company has invested Rs. 850 million for the Passekudha resort which faces the bay. It also had invested more than one billion rupees in Ulagalla resort located in Anuradhapura and Rs. 850 million in Jungle Beach located in Kuchchivali.
While the Ulagalla resort is located in a free hold 15-acre land, the Kuchchivali Jungle Beach resort is on a 15-acre land on a 99-year lease. The third resort which would be opened at the end of this month in Passekudha is on a 9-acre land leased for 33-years.
Tourist arrivals during the first eight months of this year increased by 15.8 percent to 622,661 from the 537,787 recorded in the corresponding period last year.
Many other large hotel firms are entering Sri Lanka to capitalize on the growing tourism sector. The largest land deal in Colombo, Shangri-La, is expected to open the country’s first seven star hotel in 2015 while Krrish Group also recently announced its arrival in the country.
The Tourism Development Authority recently called for applications to develop hotels in several identified areas despite the slowdown in growth of arrivals.
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