Hilton Colombo demonstrated extraordinary resilience in 2018 despite serious challenges faced by the country, Chairman of Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC, Krishantha Prasad Cooray said.

He said that the tourism industry had faced several setbacks in the financial year ended on 31 December 2018.

“The Company was poised to welcome a record number of guests in the peak season in Q4 2018, but unfortunately we were unable to realize the expected benefits due to the volatile political climate that prevailed from October 2018 onwards, during which, frequent public protests were held in the vicinity of the hotel,” Cooray said in his review in the company’s 2018 Annual Report.

However , Cooray said ,Notwithstanding challenges, as it always has, Hilton Colombo demonstrated extraordinary resilience as well as resourcefulness by simply placing faith in the fundamental principles, namely quality, staff, commitment and teamwork, all of which came to the fore during the year to make the most of a challenging situation.

He said despite delays in commencing room refurbishment, Hilton Colombo managed to compete aggressively with new entrants to the industry, recording only a marginal decline in revenue compared to the previous year. The profitability during 2018 was impacted by a substantial charge of depreciation arising from capitalisation of the refurbishment cost at the completion of the first phase in August 2017.

However, he said there were many positive developments such as high revenue and strong performance from the refurbished F&B outlets, coupled with strong business from the MICE sector which deemed Hilton Colombo to be the most preferred property for corporate events.

“We had already made major investments in surveillance and protection technology to ensure heightened security for guests which have been further reinforced in recent days. The level of security and protection we offer in the leisure sector apart from being the most prized address in the city has cemented the confidence of our guests and corporate clientele,” he noted.

“We had to adopt a medium to long term outlook to sustain the growth momentum.” Cooray emphasized.

However considering the positive projections for the year 2019, Cooray said that he has full confidence that they can carve out a strong recovery by working together to instill confidence in tourists to return to Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile commenting on the impact of the Easter Sunday attacks, Cooray noted that the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority has a challenging task to resurrect the industry and help it regain momentum.

“The private sector is eager and willing to partner the Government in chalking out an appropriate recovery plan for the short and medium term to turnaround the sector in the fastest possible time, thereby mitigate the negative impact on the sector,” he said and added “Despite the setback, the industry is ready and willing to survive the lean period and emerge even more resilient.”