City hoteliers and some in the suburbs are gearing up for the Commonwealth summit scheduled to be held later this year, Sri Lanka City Hotels President K. Shanthikumar said.

Speaking with the Business Times on Tuesday he observed that hotels in the city and the suburbs were blocked for the upcoming event as per the schedule for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November this year.
While the External Affairs Ministry would be handling where the respective delegates would stay during the summit, about 4-5000 rooms have been blocked for this purpose in the city and upto Negombo and Wadduwa.
He noted that the Youth Forum scheduled to take place in Hambantota would allow for at least two hotels in the area to be booked for the summit’s visiting delegates.

At least 6000 delegates are expected to participate at the summit with special programmes being drawn up as well for sight-seeing tours.

In addition, Mr. Shanthikumar observed that in this respect most the city hotels were carrying out refurbishments in a bid to be ready in time for the summit.

Moreover, the state would also plan for trips outside of the city for the delegates as well but these are still being worked out.
The hotel industry had gained in the past year with increased arrivals and with most hotels raising their charges the revenues were also said to have gone up.

Currently, February is doing very well and in particular the upmarket tourism was improving, boutique hotel owner Anura Lokuhetty said.

Rates in local hotels were currently the same and it was unlikely that this year there would be any change, hoteliers said. City hotels charge between US$50 – US$150 without taxes per night in Colombo.

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