Financial Times

Deer Park hotel gets new foreign managers

Deer Park Hotel, Giritale, a part of the Jinasena Group located in the cultural triangle, will from July be managed and marketed by Angsana Resorts and Spa one of the largest resort chains in South East Asia.

The signing of an agreement for this purpose took place recently in Colombo.

The Banyan Tree Group owns and manages super luxury resorts in the Asia Pacific region. They operate hotels under two main brands, Banyan Tree and Angsana. They have resorts in a number of countries including Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and India.

Dr. T. Nihal Jinasena, Chairman/Managing Director, Deer Park, said repositioning individual hotels in the international tourist market would be very difficult as it involved a large sum of money.

He said to overcome this situation his son Lalin Jinadasa developed a novel concept of creating an attractive Web Page on Deer Park Hotel which was done meticulously. The creation won a Gold Award for excellence at PATA held in New Delhi in 2002. It competed with even Singapore Airlines to win this prestigious award.

It gave Deer Park tremendous international exposure and also led to the Banyan Tree Holdings becoming aware of Deer Park's beauty and high potential.

Jinasena said the management contract is for 20 years. Angsana Resorts and Spa was conceptualized to enable parent company Banyan Tree Holdings to diversify its business operations to other areas.

This joint venture marks the Angsana brand's maiden entry into Sri Lanka as part of its expansion drive in the Asia-Pacific region.

It is in line with the Jinasena Group's objective to re-position Deer Park in the global market.

The new Deer Park Resort and Spa will be the 6th resort for the Angsana brand which also manages and operates 12 Angsana Spas worldwide. Lalin Jinasena, Head of Marketing, said that Angsana coming to Sri Lanka was a positive sign for the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. (QP)