Rohan Karr heads newly incorporated Colombo City Tourist Hotels Association

Friday, 19 November 2021 00:21 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Rohan Karr

On Wednesday, top professional Rohan Karr was appointed as the President of the newly incorporated ‘The Colombo City Tourist Hotels Association’ (TCCTHA), which aims to re-position this dominant segment of Sri Lanka’s leisure industry to enhance more value to all stakeholders.

The predecessor to TCCTHA was the informal Colombo City Hotels Association, which had been in existence for over two decades, championed by veteran hotelier M. Shanthikumar. Some of the city hotels are also members of the industry’s larger and older private sector body The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL).

However, with the city hotels in particular, and the tourism sector in general, faced with their most challenging times, the leaders decided to formalise the lobby group into an incorporated body and registered it as an Association.

Karr is the Executive Director of business leader Dhammika Perera-controlled Hayleys PLC and Managing Director of Hayleys Leisure. The Vice President of the new association is Shibani Thambiyah of Renuka Hotels, and the Secretary is another veteran in Movenpick’s Rohan Perera. The 33-member strong association will meet shortly to elect 13 members to the Committee.

Karr said the new association will give an effective voice for the city hotels, which account for 3,500, or 20% of the country’s star-class rooms, and are poised to grow to over 5,000 in the next two years with the upcoming additions.

“The challenges faced by the city hotels have been unprecedented, starting from the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks followed by the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with resultant macro-economic issues,” Karr told the Daily FT.

Due to the double whammy, the city hotels have seen a mass exodus of qualified and experienced staff, and TCCTHA President said the members are keen to reposition the city hotels and tourism to make it attractive to both customers and employees.

Karr also said that city hotels have by far the best knowledge, experience, maturity and expertise within the leisure industry, apart from benefitting with the richness of having some of the best international and local brands.

“We believe The Colombo City Tourist Hotels Association can give leadership to a faster and more sustainable revival of tourism in Sri Lanka,” he added.

Karr built the famous ‘Cinnamon’ brand in his previous stint with John Keells Holdings PLC. As Sector Head of the Cinnamon City Hotels sector of JKH and Cinnamon Grand General Manager, he oversaw the management of Cinnamon Grand, Cinnamon Lakeside and Cinnamon Red, and headed the Brand Development team for the Cinnamon brand.

A career hotelier, counting over 30 years both in the local and international hospitality industry, he has held the position of General Manager in several hotels in the United Kingdom; his last position being the Marriott Marble Arch – London. He is also a Director of Trans Asia Hotels PLC.

He read for his Masters in Hospitality and Business Studies from the Thames Valley University – London.