Priyank Gupta, Chairman of Ocean Edge Suites & Hotel, is committed to making Sri Lanka more attractive to Indian tourists. He recently opened Waves, a resort where tourists can experience the beauty of the Indian Ocean region. Here is a conversation with him about it.
Q Where is Sri Lanka’s tourism industry at now.
A It is poised for a Turnaround and feel that Tourism Board s Target of 3 million Foreign tourist Arrival is achievable
Q Are there adequate facilities for the increasing number of tourists? What areas should be developed in the future
A Yes Colombo has adequate supply of Classified Hotel rooms now.
Q How did you start Ocean Edge Hotel. What is the progress so far.
A We started in 2017 and we lost to 3 years to Easter Attack, Covid-19 & Economic turmoil. But, Nevertheless, though the venture was not profitable financially, but we gained two things- useful experience of running world class hospitality and also earned immense warmth of the Sri Lankan people.
Q You just opened a new restaurant. What is special about this.
A Our New Restaurant of 100 Pax capacity “Waves” is a 24 Hours Restaurant which will be host to our “In house” guests to sumptuous Breakfast with Panoramic Views of the Indian Ocean. It will be positioned as the “ Go to” Sundowner in evenings and a quieter place for fine dining after 7:30 pm.
Q Is this just for food. Is it possible to host parties.
A Small parties up to 30 Pax can be accommodated. For Bigger groups we have Banquet on the First Floor as we would have to allocate atleast 70% capacity to our Inhouse guests & Walk in guests.
Q Who to contact to book packages
A GM @ +94753612345 may be contacted for packages.
Q Any suggestion to Government of Sri Lanka
A The Indian market is the most important market for Sri Lanka Tourism. I have always been advocating that by focussing on 2 or 3 cities in India we can generate probably more business than the rest of the world. There is a small city in North of India Manali which has total 75,000 Registered voters so you can imagine the Size of the Place. This place pred dominantly gets tourists from Delhi. It takes 13-14 Hours to reach Manali from Delhi in a tiring road Journey. In contrast Delhi-Colombo flight takes only takes 3 hours. (which is the farthest Indian city from Sri Lanka by flight). This place has very few Internationally branded hotels. But it receives more tourists every year than the whole of Sri Lanka. And there are many examples of small tourist towns in India which generates more Volume and Value business than us.
So, we just need to make few Indian cities as the Focus cities and connect Colombo to these cities seamlessly and economically so that the country can get repeat tourists which shall also ensure that we also get less affected by seasonality.