Plans to upgrade state bungalows to cater to Chinese tourism demand
The Ministry of Tourism is planning to upgrade all holiday bungalows in state plantations in a bid to cater to the rising demand from Chinese tourists, ministry officials said. “The Ministry will be calling for tenders on Public Partnership (PPP) when upgrading these properties,” an official told the Business Times. According to him there’re many hoteliers and interested parties who want to set up exclusive operations catering to the Chinese tourists. “There’re many who wanted these bungalows (plantation) in order to upgrade them and cater to maybe a group of 10 Chinese tourists. What the tourists want are the facilities that are authentically Chinese. So what these hoteliers want is to tailor authentic Chinese cuisine, Chinese settings, etc for these tourists.”
Also Chinese tourists are mostly young and look towards adventure and discovery, he said adding that bungalows in heritage destinations such as Dambulla, Sigiriya, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kandy and Kurunegala will be ideal in this respect. “Also bungalows in national parks and sanctuaries: Kumana, Uda Walawa, Wilpathtu, Yala, Habarana and Sinharaja are earmarked to be upgraded,” he said adding that the prospective developers are interested in plantations in the hill country- Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Bandarawela and Hatton. The official who joined the Minister of Tourism Development John Amaratunga on his visit to China last month to participate in the World Conference on Tourism for Development said that many Chinese want to hold their weddings in Sri Lanka.
He said that Sri Lanka has always been an ideal destination for exotic wedding ceremonies and currently it enjoys the third spot on most popular destination for weddings and honeymoons in the world. “In this scenario, the bungalows will serve as an ideal setting,” he added. He said that some Chinese parties have already expressed interest in destination weddings in the island. While a proper count of how many properties the government owns hasn’t been done, the official said they will call on all state plantations to submit these details. Sri Lanka received some 230,000 tourists from China last year.