Hiran Cooray elected new THASL President

Friday, 24 October 2014 00:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL), the apex body of the hotels industry in the country, unanimously appointed Hiran Cooray, Chairman of Jetwing Hotels, as its new President at the 49th Annual General Meeting which was held on 17 October at Jetwing Blue, Negombo. Cooray, a 20-year veteran in the hotels industry, represents Sri Lanka on the Board of PATA since 1996. He was designated as Chairman elect for 2010/2011 of this prestigious Association. He holds a Degree in Business Administration obtained from the University of North Carolina and also has successfully completed a senior management course in Hotel Management at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. The veteran hotelier has held the Presidency of the THASL on three previous occasions and is also the past Chairman of the PATA Sri Lanka Chapter.

Speaking during the AGM, the newly-elected Chairman of THASL said: “Now we are playing and batting on a smooth wicket and it is wonderful to see the association blossoming along with tourism in our island.” “We now have a fantastic team in Administration, a very strong Ministry, we have a strong Minister and we have a very good team in the Tourist Board,” he added. Cooray believes that this is the time for the industry to get together and build Sri Lanka Tourism to the next level. “We have been given a great opportunity and you have seen five years of tremendous growth, which most of us did not seen in the past,” he further pointed out. Cooray succeeds Jayantissa Kehelpannala, who is the outgoing President of the Association. Speaking during the occasion, Kehelpannala said: “We have during the year being actively involved in helping develop the tourism industry and been successfully providing advisory, consultative and representative services to our members, the Government and all other stake holders, and will continue to do so in the coming years.” The Sri Lanka’s premier hotel sector body was formed in the year 1966, during the birth of modern tourism in Ceylon and was also the year the Ceylon Tourist Board was established. The following members were appointed to the Management Committee of the Association:- M. Shathikumar was appointed as the Vice President in-charge of City Hotels, while Siri Goonewardena as appointed as the Vice President in-charge of the Small Hotels, and Angeline Ondaatjie was appointed as the Vice President in-charge of Resort Hotels. Ranil De Silva was appointed as the Treasurer of the Association.

Denesh Silva of Amaya Resorts & Spa, Deva Peter of the Golden Star Beach Hotel, Tilak Gunawardena of Heritance Kandalama, Rohit Khosla from Taj Samudra Hotel, Ruan Samarasinghe of Blue Oceanic Beach Hotel (Jetwing Blue), Ajit Jayamanne of Eden Resort & Spa, Shibani Thambiyah of Hotel Renuka, Asoka Hettigoda of Siddhalepa Ayurveda Health Resort and Chamin Wickramasinghe of Maalu Maalu Resorts & Spas were appointed as the Committee members of the THASL.