Colombo hotels pin hopes on better year

Press, 6 January 1987, Page 19

Colombo hotels pin hopes on better year

Story and pictures by LES BLOXHAM, travel editor, who recently visited Sri Lanka. World-wide publicity associated with outbreaks of racial violence and terrorism came close to wrecking Sri Lanka’s tourist image between 1984 and 1986. Now, however, as the Government succeeds in confining the problem to isolated areas in the north and east, hopes are high that the flow of tourists will increase again this year. Hotels in particular have been badly hit. Many have barely survived with occupancy rates of less than a third. New projects have been either mothballed or delayed indefinitely, and some hotels have been forced to close whole wings or seal off floors to reduce expenses. Tariffs last year were slashed by all luxury hotels in a bid to win a share of the meagre flow of business. Hundreds of staff have been laid off over the last 18 months as tourists cancelled bookings. But some are now being re-employed as optimism gradually builds with the arrival of an increasing number of group tours from the country’s major markets in Europe. Colombo has an impressive range of fine hotels, the grandest of which is undoubtedly the regal old duchess of Asia, the Galle Face. It was built by the British Raj and opened in 1864 — five years before the Suez Canal, 12 years before Bell patented the telephone, and 15 years before the birth of Conrad Hilton.

Such milestones in history are proudly etched in a plaque in the hotel’s spacious marble foyer. The Galle Face clearly is not ashamed of its age. The hotel is run by a lovable eccentric, Mr Cyril Gardiner, chairman of the board for 26 years. He holds several fundamental beliefs including that smokers should give up the habit A marble plaque grandly warns guests not to smoke in bed “or the ashes we find may be yours.” In the foyer another marble plaque states that: “Flowers for you, water for the birds that twitter musically up and down.” For while Mr Gardiner bans his employees from smoking or drinking on the

premises, he openly encourages Colombo’s tiny paddy birds to build their nests inside the hotel. He attracts them with food and water and they respond by bringing up their families on top of the pillars in the foyer, corridors and concourse.

Running the Galle Face is a hobby for Mr Gardiner. “It is one of the grand hotels of the world,” he said. “I want to preserve it for posterity.” His motto — “Yesterday’s charm with tomorrow’s comfort today” — is also etched in marble.