Royal Palms Beach Hotels, Kalutara plans to refurbish the hotel while adding several features to prepare for the increasing number of tourist arrivals.

Royal Palms Beach Hotels Chairman George Ondaatjie said they hope to complete the refurbishment of thirty two rooms by the end of this year. They hope to add two new suits to the hotel to compete with some of the new properties that have emerged in the area.

He stated that the addition once completed will diversify the product portfolio. He said that they hope to upgrade the technology so as conserve energy and to reduce operational costs. He stated that in the next financial year they hope to refurbish the public areas.

He said they expect an increase of tourist arrivals by 28% by 2016 and in order to accommodate this expected increase the group hopes to complete the tourist hotel projects in the pipeline.

Managing Directo Angaline Ondaatje,said the hotel has been a slight reduction in the of the occupancy rate in the financial year of 2014/15. She said the occupancy rate had decreased by 9% to an occupancy rate of 60% earning a revenue of Rs.527.7 million. She also stated that the profits have declined to Rs.23.5 million as opposed to the previous year’s Rs. 118 million.

She said that global issues such as Ukraine and Russia and many other factors affected our key market segments this financial year. It was stated that the drop of occupancy can be attributed to both external and internal factors.

The competition that has arisen with the emerging of new properties in the coastal belt had greatly severed the company’s revenue.