Sri Lanka’s largest condominium developer – Blue Ocean Group of Companies recently ventured into a new vertical, the burgeoning travel and leisure industry by opening its  travel  arm –  ‘Blue Ocean Travels’, last Monday (July 3) at No 379, 1^st Floor, Galle Road, Wellawatte.

“Currently, tourism industry is the third highest foreign exchange earner for Sri Lanka’s economy and earned an impressive US$ 3.4 billion in 2016. The mere 400,000 arrivals in 2009, increased five-fold to reach 2,050,832 tourists, up 14% from 1,798,380 a year earlier. We laud the Government’s ambitious target of reaching 2.5 million arrivals during 2017, along with a goal of tapping foreign exchange earnings of nearly US$ four billion and further strengthening its commitment to attract 4.5 million arrivals by 2020,” noted Blue Ocean Group Chairman S. Thumilan, after the ribbon cutting ceremony last Monday.

“We also commend authorities for recognizing not only tourism as a high income generating, thrust industry but also the construction sector in which the Blue Ocean Group plays pivotal role attracting much-needed foreign exchange into the economy. As a diversified Group we wish to reiterate our commitment to make condominiums on one hand a lucrative investment to all our buyers and on the other hand a higher foreign exchange-earning segment in the future,” he added.

The prestigious Blue Ocean Group has the distinction of being the largest apartment developer in Sri Lanka with over 1,400 condominium units committed or completed, to its credit.

According to Thumilan, government’s recent policy move to issue temporary resident visas for foreigners who invest US$ 300,000 or more, to be would be implemented in due course; would encourage more foreign investors to invest in Sri Lanka.

“Not only foreign investors but even Sri Lankan expats are highly enthusiastic in investing back in the country of their birth. In fact this spurt of investors who in turn wanted travel solutions for their visits to and from Sri Lanka, created this opportune moment for Blue Ocean Group to venture into the travel industry,” he added.

Thumilan resonated the view of the business community that more foreign exchange inflows will flow into the economy during 2017 and beyond.

“Through our expanding international network, we have ventured into Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Asia, especially targeting the markets of Dubai (UAE), the United Kingdom - UK, the United States of America (USA), Canada and Australia and through this dynamic network we hope to enhance the flow of foreign exchange in to the Sri Lankan economy. Overall, optimism reigns high in Sri Lanka in particular and in Asia Pacific in general, with capital inflows into our economy expected to increase during 2017 and beyond, creating a vast untapped potential for Blue Ocean Group of Companies.”

Blue Ocean Travels offers  a range of travel solutions such as Air ticketing, Inbound Tours, Outbound Tours, Visa Consulting and Travel Insurance services and is located next to Hotel Sapphire in Colombo 06.

Photo caption: Blue Ocean Group Chairman S. Thumilan handing over a ticket to Group Head of IT Nimeshanan Kulendra at the newly-opened Blue Ocean Travels