Category: Industry
Sri Lanka lowers tourist arrival targets, as Australia issues tough travel warning
Oct 20, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may still cross the half a million tourist arrival mark this year though falling short of targets, even as Australia issued a tough warning on Friday not to travel to the troubled island. Fighting between Sri Lanka government and Tamil rebels have escalated in recent months, with some […]
Best Deals
Oct 20, 2006 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines says it will consider lowering fuel surcharges on tickets in January if oil prices continue to fall, while it also expands further into Indian metropolitan cities this winter. The airline is currently buying jet fuel at 1.92 dollars a gallon, down from the highs of 2.28 dollars a […]
GrameenPhone
DHAKA, Oct 19, 2006 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s top mobile phone company, GrameenPhone, is mulling whether to list itself on the stock market, a report said Thursday.GrameenPhone (GP), majority owned by Norwegian telecom company Telenor, is Bangladesh’s biggest mobile phone company with over 9.5 million subscribers. “We are in the process of analysing the option of […]
Speedy transfers
October 19, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Bank, has tied up with global money transfer giant Western Union, to enable their customers to remit funds to their families here. “This is a 240-250 billion dollar market and we have around 16 percent of market share in this field,” Kapur said. Over a million Sri […]
Tourism campaign in India boosts Indian visits to the island
Oct 19, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has seen a 22 percent jump in Indian visitors during a six months promotional campaign across top metro cities India, a local industry group said Thursday. The Sri Lanka – Small Island, Big Trip campaign ran from March to August this year across Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore […]
Networking Skills
Oct 18, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) has teamed up with Australia’s Curtin University of Technology to introduce an undergraduate Computer Systems and Networking course. The three year program covers hardware and software as well as computer communication and networking incorporating Local Area Networks (LANs), Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) and […]
Sri Lanka tourism counts on peace talks to salvage winter season after Galle port attack
Oct 18 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is counting on proposed peace talks to salvage the peak winter season, following Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Galle. The winter season starts in November, with the industry expecting occupancy levels in the South to be in the region of a low 55 percent even before the attacks. […]
Citizendium
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 17, 2006 (AFP) – A co-founder of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia written in collaborative fashion by the Internet community announced Tuesday he is launching a rival service edited by experts.A test version of “Citizendium” to be launched this week in Harmon, California will use experienced editors and subject authorities to tune information […]
Why Not?
Oct. 17, 2006 (LBO) — Emirates Telecommunications Corp. is in talks with the Sri Lankan government to acquire a stake in Sri Lanka Telecom, its spokesman said Tuesday. The company, also known as Etisalat, is looking at buying a controlling stake in SLT, spokesman Ahmed bin Ali told Bloomberg News. He decline to provide further […]
Sri Lanka greets fewer visitors in Sept; hopes peace, discount airfares will reverse fortunes
Oct 13, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s visitor arrivals in September fell 12 percent, but the Tourism Board is hoping discount airfares and peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels would stem the slide. Holidaymakers to this tear shaped island fell 11.6 percent to 38,485 visitors in September over the corresponding period 2005, […]
Flight Path
Oct 13, 2006 (LBO) – SriLankan Airlines is ripe for expansion and is looking for about 11 new planes to beef up airline seat capacity, says Tim Clark, Managing Director of SriLankan. SriLankan Airline’s net profits as at end March this year, rose to 797.93 million rupees over 7.66 million rupees, while group net profit […]
Flight Delays
SINGAPORE, Oct 13, 2006 (AFP) – Delays in delivery of the Airbus A380 super jumbo have led to “a big problem” for Dubai-based Emirates, the single biggest customer for the passenger aircraft, the airline’s president said Friday. Other regional carriers, including launch customer Singapore Airlines, have also expressed disappointment at the A380 delays, which Airbus […]