Sri Lanka Tourism should once again convince the government to issue visa on arrival for Europeans, US and USA and other selected nationals and look at offering short term Visit Visa for SAARC countries said Managing Director, Anusha de Alwis Frydman, Managing Director, Lavanga Resort and Spa Hikkaduwa.
Speaking to Daily News she said that there is tremendous tourism potential within the SAARC region and Sri Lankan Tourism should try to exploit this. “For Indians sometimes it takes a short time to travel to Sri Lanka rather than flying within the country. In addition there is good air connectivity and authorities should look at offering a short stay free visa system for them.”
She also said that for Europeans though the visa to Sri Lanka is economical and not difficult to obtain its being offered for a limited period and this should be re looked at.
Anusha Frydman said that the government must seriously re look at the tax structure for the hotel sector which is now high. “The government must offer a ‘better tax deal’ for SME hotels like us and have a separate tax structure for large Chain hotels.”
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| Anusha Frydman. Pictures by Sudath Malaweera |
She said that this will on the long run help for more investments and help larger job creation from the industry.
Having first started as a guest relations officer at Coral Rock hotel Hikkaduwa straight after leaving Southlands College Galle, she said that today there is less ‘taboo’ for females to work in the leisure industry.
She worked for a salary around Rs. 3,000 and then came to Colombo studied at British Council and also worked in shipping companies. During this time she saw a vacancy advertisement in Daily News calling for Guest Relations offices at Galle Face Hotel and joined it working under seasoned hotelier Anura Lokuhetty.
Moving on to work for another hotel chain she met and married Australian entrepreneur and architect, Daniel Frydman and invested in Lavanga Resort and Spa Hikkaduwa. The hotel was first built on bare land as a 16 room all-suite hotel along with whom she met while working in Colombo. “Since the demand for the hotel increased we decided to add 30 additional deluxe rooms and have one of the biggest banquets halls in the area.”
She said that under the third phase of the hotel development they added 16 more budget rooms after acquiring an adjoining land and have built two bridges to connect the two buildings.
A mother of three Anusha Frydman said that she sees better prospects for tourism.
(SS)
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| Anusha Frydman with the family |
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