THASL 53rd AGM and Anniversary Dinner

The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka held its 53rd Annual General Meeting on 17th October 2018 at the Shangri-la Hotel, Colombo. Mr. Sanath Ukwatte, the Chairman of the Mount Lavenia Group of hotels was unanimously elected for the 3rd consecutive year as it’s President. Since taking over office 3 years ago, Mr. Ukwatte has played an aggressive role to address some of the challenges faced by the industry and which will impact it’s future sustenance. He was the first to have a island wide program to recognise young talent within the industry and initiated the ‘ Rising Star’ award to recognize the best of the best young talent in 09 identified disciplines in hotel operations. This was a resounding success. He also has recognized the need to create awareness amongst the youth on the opportunities available in the hospitality sector and has aggressively lobbyed with the Govt and donor agencies to get a nation wide campaign rolled out, has been a catalyst in lobbying with the Govt to change legislature and tax structures to be more tourism friendly and of course the push for a proper destination branding and an aggressive promotional campaign to be released immediately.

The Association also known as THASL, is the apex body of the entire hotel sector in the country and for the past 53 years has played a pivotal role in supporting the industry and it’s development. It’s membership investment exceeds over 90% of the hospitality sector in the country. Hotels is by far the single largest investor in the entire Tourism sector with an estimated investment of over USD 10 Billion.

The Prime Minister Hon. Ranil Wickramasinghe was the Chief Guest at the Dinner following the AGM.