Global tour operator Kuoni Travels of Switzerland’s, fully owned subsidiary Kuoni Travel Ltd UK Managing Director Nick Hughes, on a recent visit to Sri Lanka, said “ Sri Lanka is the number one destination for weddings worldwide and number two destination for honeymoons for Kuoni Travels” He went on to add “Our year –on –year revenue (2007 -2008) from the Sri Lankan market has risen by 30 % while passenger traffic has risen by 20%. This is a very strong and favourable message for Sri Lanka”

Kuoni is among Britain’s biggest tour operators to Sri Lanka and is operating for more than forty years. Sri Lanka is featured on the cover of Kuoni’s Winter Brochure for 2008; company’s main catalogue of global destinations. The 2009 brochure dedicates 24 pages to Sri Lanka.

top

Hilton Colombo won the most coveted awards – the Asia Pacific Regional Brand Award 2007 and the Worldwide Hilton Brand Award 2007 at the recently concluded Hilton worldwide awards ceremony.

Congratulations! Hilton Colombo team. We are proud of you.

top

The spotlight will fall on Hikkaduwa from July 30th to August 3rd when the ‘Hikkaduwa Beach Fest 2008 gets underway. It will be five days of entertainment and excitement for the whole family with a line up of events for all age groups being catered to.

There will be activities from sunup to sunset to keep all members of the family entertained. With a special day dedicated to grandparents and other events for kiddies with beach sports for the more energetic, a long line up of entertainment await visitors. The partying in the evening will be enlivened with the participation of popular DJ’s from Sri Lanka and invitees from overseas adding to the excitement.

From Rock concerts to kite festivals to fireworks displays, activities are varied and fun filled and are designed to provide entertainment to both local and foreign visitors. For details visit www.srilanka.travel

top

Sri Lankan born Australia based writer Michelle de Kretser is the winner of the New South Wales Premiers Literary Prize. De Kretser earned the A$40,000/- valued prize for her complex novel “The Lost Dog” which also won the prestigious Book of the Year award earning the writer further fame and an additional A$10,000/-.

De Kretser, a graduate of Melbourne University and of the Sorbonne was an editor of the Melbourne based travel publisher The Lonely Planet for more than 10 years and opened its Paris office. Her first work published in 1998 “ The Rose Grower” was highly acclaimed as was the second “The Hamilton Case” which won an award at the Frankfurt International book fair for its German translation.

top

Dilantha Malagamuwa, the Japan based reigning Malaysian Super car champion racing in the inaugural Aston Martin Cup Asia championships at the Shanghai international motor racing circuit raced ahead of Ringo Chong of Singapore who came in second and Mark Eddy of Australia who finished third.

Malagamuwa with wins in the first two rounds of the event is poised to take on all 12 rounds and bring further glory to himself and to Sri Lanka. We at Sri Lanka Calling wish him the very best as he continues towards the chequered flag ahead of all other competitors.

top

Sri Lanka’s only dry zone arboretum; this man -made jungle, just two kilo metres from the town on the Kandalama Road in the North central province in Dambulla was established over four decades ago by British planter F.H. (Sam) Popham and offers acres of dry zone trees and an educational experience to visitors.

Managed by Ruk Rakaganno ( Tree Conservationists ) since the departure of Popham from Sri Lanka the arboretum provides both a recreational and an educational experience. For details on visiting the Arboretum contact 2554438 or write to rukraks@sltnet.lk

top

Aru Sri Art Theatre in association with Chandana Wickramasinghe will present Ramayanaya under the direction of Kalsuri Arunthathy Sri Renganathan at the Ramayana festival in India from June 5th to 13th.

The 25 member troupe will tour Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior where performers from Cambodia, Java, Bali, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Ayodhya are billed to participate.

The Sri Lankan dancing ambassadors and musicians will showcase to audiences in India the cultural bond that exists between all peoples of Sri Lanka.

Xerox the world renowned photo copy printer who takes pride in showing the beauty of colour to the world chooses the vibrancy of Sri Lanka’s many hues to tell their story and bring glory to Sri Lanka.

The formalities to start off the project was launched in Colombo when Andrew Horne Managing Director Xerox India who also heads operations of the SAARC region was in Colombo as Guest of Honour at Print 2008 Exhibition and Awards Night of the Sri Lanka Printers Association. Speaking of the decision Horne said “ Sri Lanka is a wonderful and colourful country and we want to be a part of the campaign to show its beauty to the world.” And continued to add “One message ‘beautiful Sri Lanka’ many messengers taking it to the world.”

The popular Amangalla Salon will be different once again; on Saturday June 14th it will be an evening of wine tasting and a presentation by Prakash Mirchandani of Favourite International.

The wine on presentation and for tasting is from the Sandalford range of wines which come from the oldest and largest family run vineyard in Western Australia. For more details on the evening contact orichli@amanresorts.com