Sri Lanka (Member of Commonwealth of Nations) is an island situated in the Indian Ocean, at the base of the Indian Sub-Continent, 880 km north of the equator. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country with a diverse and rich culture.
Geography:
Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) is about half the size of England and lies close to the southern tip of India and near the equator. From the coast, the land rises to a central massif more than 1500 m above sea level. The climate is hot and humid - monsoon from May to September and the north-east monsoon from November to March: rainfall, particularly in the south-west, is heavy.
Sri Lanka was severely affected by the tsunami on 26 December 2004, which killed some 40,000 people and displaced 400 – 500 thousand people along two thirds of the north-east, south and south-west coastline.
Half the fishing fleet was destroyed, and a quarter of hotels in the affected areas sustained serious damage.
Government:
Unicameral Parliament with Executive Presidency
Area:
24,996 sq mi (64,740 sq km); total area: 25,332 sq mi (65,610 sq km)
Population:
(2006 est.): 20,222,240 (growth rate: 0.8%); birth rate: 15.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 14.0/1000; life expectancy: 73.4; density per sq mi: 809
Commercial Capital and largest city:
Colombo
Legislative and judicial capital:
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Main exports:
Clothing and textiles, tea, gems, rubber, coconuts
Languages:
Sinhala 74% (official and national), Tamil 18% (national), other 8%; English is widely spoken and is studied as a compulsory secondary language in school.
People:
73.94% Sinhalese, 12.7% Tamil, 7.1% Muslim, 5.5% Hill Tamil, and 1.5% other
Languages:
Sinhalese, Tamil, English
Religion(s):
Buddhist (69.3%); Hindu (15.5%); Muslim (7.5%); Christianity (6.9%), other (0.8%)
Currency:
Rupee, divided into 100 cents
Literacy rate:
92% (2003 est.) The highest in South Asia and second highest in Asia.
Climate:
Sri Lanka has a pleasant tropical climate: the average temperature of the low lands ranges between 25-30 degrees Celsius.
GDP:
Sri Lanka's Per Capita GDP is presently US $1,160 (World Bank, 2006) - the highest in South Asia
History and culture:
Sri Lanka History is incident full. Being an important trade port and oasis of Nature for sea farers of China, Arabia and Europe of the ancient times. Sri Lanka has a fascinating documented history over 2500 years of Civilization. The most valuable source of knowledge for the legends and historical heritage of Sri Lanka is the Mahavamsa (Great Genealogy or Dynasty), a chronicle compiled in Pali, in the sixth century. Please visit
Sri Lanka Travel for more details about Sri Lanka.
Special features:
Sri Lanka is one of the first five gem bearing countries in the world (Other four gem bearing countries are Brazil, Mayanmar, South Africa and Thailand) The principle gems of Sri Lanka are rubies and sapphires while alexandrite, though not so profuse, is found only in Sri Lanka and in the rural mountains of the former Soviet Union.
Sri Lanka is one of the worst affected countries from the recent Asian Tsunami disaster. At least 40,000 people are known to have died, and thousands more are still missing. The number of homeless people is put at between 800,000 and 1,000,000, from a population of nineteen million.
Apart form these direct impacts, the recent Tsunami has influenced the normal lifestyle of the Sri Lankan community through the discontinuance of several livelihoods such as fishing, farming, tourism and handicrafts-related activities. Major infrastructure and facilities have also been destroyed or disrupted, including public and commercial transport services, electricity and water supplies, drainage and sewerage facilities, telecommunication services, and schools. Even though the immediate priorities of the post-Tsunami recovery activities were centred on the provision of basic requirements such as food, shelter and medicines to affected communities, the necessity to recreate public and commercial facilities destroyed during the disaster cannot be ignored when considering long term recovery measures.
Like other affected countries, post-Tsunami rehabilitation in Sri Lanka is operating in a difficult context; among the most important factors is the pre-existence of very high densities of unplanned settlements in the Southern part of Sri Lanka with the majority of construction not observing some of the critical building standards.
To add to this, the post-Tsunami rehabilitation operation has been affected due to weak local government institutions with poor response capacities to address the needs of such a magnitude. This is mainly because, before the Tsunami, Sri Lanka was known to be a safe haven where outrages of nature scarcely occurred except for occasional floods and landslides during the rainy seasons.
The responsibility for building capacity in accordance with the latest requirements largely resides within the HE institutions in Sri Lanka. In order to achieve the desired capacity and the expertise for public and commercial facilities re-creation and long-term maintenance, teaching, training and research will have been strengthened. Sri Lankan Institutions who act as joint hosts are located within the Tsunami affected regions.
Accommodation
The organisers recommend following hotels for accommodation
Cinnamon Grand (event venue)
Galle Face Hotel
Taj Samudra Hotel
Ramada Colombo Hotel
(Within 5-10 minutes walking distance to the event venue)
Galadari Hotel
Kingsbury Hotel
Hilton Colombo
(Within 5 minutes distance in a taxi)
To book accommodation and airport transfers, please contact the official event coordinator,
Ziyan Ameen
Aitken Spence Travels (Pvt) Ltd.
Deputy General Manager
Email: ziyan@aitkenspence.lk
Mobile and WhatsApp : (+94)777 788931
Landline:(+94)112 499577
Web:www.aitkenspenceconventions.com / www.aitkenspencetravels.com
There are other large number of options available depending on the type of accommodation you are looking for including
Airbnb |
Booking.com |
Expedia |
Trip.com |
Agoda |
& etc.
