The dominant controlling interest of the Hotel Ceylon Continental owned by business leader Nahil Wijesuriya is up for sale and a deal may be finalized within the next couple of months, he said.
“I am aggressively seeking to sell the property and hope to exit with a capital gain in about two months,” Wijesuriya said yesterday.
He strongly opposed the minimum rates enforced on star classed hotels under an Order under section 53 of the Tourism Act effective from yesterday urging that lumping all five-star hotels together and requiring them to sell their rooms at a minimum USD 75 per day was unfair and unworkable.
Wijesuriya argued that imposing the same minimum rate on newly refurbished glittering properties and old hotels like the Ceylon Continental was unfair saying “I’ll be able to sell a room only after the Cinnamon Grand and Cinnamon Lakeside are full.”
He had even sought a downgrading of the classification of his hotel in terms of the classifying criteria so that he could sell his rooms cheaper and attract custom on price, but this too has been turned down.
“I hope to exit soon and watch the scene from outside as a spectator,” he said.
