Laugfs’ Chilaw resort aims to target Chinese, Eastern travellers
The first resort of Laugfs Holdings, the 2.6 billion-rupee ‘Anantaya’ in Chilaw, is aimed at attracting the high spending traveller from mainly Eastern destinations like China.
This new property is a very luxury resort on a five star property, Laugfs Group Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya said in an interview with the Business Times on Wednesday.
He noted that with most of the tourism industry looking West, they were opting to attract the Eastern traveller and in particular the Chinese market rather than the conventional ones.
In this regard, they were engaged in discussions with different travel operators in those markets and would be carrying out promotional campaigns as well to attract the right customer segment for their properties in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Wegapitiya commenting on the selection of the venue said it was mainly for two reasons: firstly, since the property was in close proximity to the Katunayaka airport within 45 minutes reach and other tourist attractions like the cultural triangle and in location close to the next large tourism zone Kalpitiya targeted by the government.
Situated en route to the Cultural Triangle, Anantaya is just four km away from the Anavilundawa bird sanctuary, one of Sri Lanka’s Ramsar wetland sites. The resort also organises excursions to other attractions, notable among which are the largest National Park in the country Wilpattu, the dolphin watcher’s paradise Kalpitiya, and the Muthurajawela wetlands, a biologically diverse coastal ecosystem.
He pointed out that Anantaya was built on an eco-friendly concept with the lagoon and sea on either side providing a dual view from every room. In fact, the hotel also uses wind and solar energy to generate their energy supply.
In a bid to engage the local youth in the business Laugfs has also opened up a hotel school to train new entrants to the sector as a requirement for the hotel itself and to fulfil a social responsibility to improve the industry’s standards with a qualified and skilled professional service with experienced staff by 2016, he explained.
In a media statement regarding the launch of Anantaya, the company said the property was situated in a secluded beach location with the Sinhala term used meaning “infinity.”
Mr. Wegapitiya explained that while this was the first, their second hotel would be coming up in Pasikudah at a cost of Rs.2.5 billion scheduled for opening in early 2016 with 110 rooms.
But the group’s third hotel would be a unique property in Waskaduwa where they would invest Rs.4 billion with 250 rooms with an international convention and exhibition centre, which is 45 minutes to about one hour from the Katunayaka airport within easy access and a beach resort. Construction on this project would commence by August and designing of the property was currently underway, he said.
Mr. Wegapitiya observed that their pricing would be based on certain economic fundamentals and taking into consideration the competition as well. However, when asked about the competition from the region he noted they would not engage in undercutting to attract tourists adding that the sector obtained freedom after 30 years as a result of which it was not comparable with Thailand.