The Sri Lanka government in a bid to set up many hotels and resorts will now lease out around 5,500 acres spread across 12 islands, to potential investors who are keen to invest in setting up new properties in the country. The 12 islands are located in Kalpitiya area of Western Sri Lanka, close to the capital city, Colombo.
Dr Nalaka Godahewa, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism said, “The tendering process for leasing out identified lands in these 12 islands will begin within a month’s time. The lease period will be for 35 years and further enhancement will be considered depending on the volume of investment that comes in”.
Sri Lanka Tourism that is in the process of identifying more locations for developing tourism infrastructure, including hotels, resorts, convention centres, entertainment centres, marinas, among others has set a target of 2.5 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2015.
“We need to have around 30,000 more hotels rooms to achieve the target growth. We have achieved a growth of more than 40 per cent in arrival numbers in the first half of the current year and hope to achieve the target of 2.5 million before 2015,” Godahewa added.
